


Mechanics like to fix things

by sharkie335



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Anal Sex, Angst, Blow Jobs, Bucky Barnes & Steve Rogers Friendship, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Bucky is brave enough for two, Disregards Civil War, I've only seen the first season of AoS, Let's give this a try, M/M, Medical Procedures, Minor Clint Barton/Phil Coulson, Non-Sexual Sleeping Together, Not compliant after that point, Schmoop, Science Bros, Tony Stark Needs Sleep, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark is bad with people, Tony is a Mechanic, Work In Progress, everyone is living in the tower, tags will update
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:01:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 70,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26598739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharkie335/pseuds/sharkie335
Summary: When Bucky approaches Tony to fix his arm, which is malfunctioning, it sets off a chain reaction.  After all, at his heart, Tony is a mechanic and they live to fix things.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Comments: 232
Kudos: 441
Collections: Numerous OTPS Infinite Fandoms, StarkBucksBingo2020, Winteriron all the time





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've got more than 50k words of this written, and it's still not done. I'm hoping that if I start posting it and maybe getting some feedback, I'll get the kick in the pants I need to finish it. So, feedback will be loved and treasured. 
> 
> I'm planning to update 1 - 2 times a week as long as I have stuff already written. Then we'll see what happens!
> 
> The explicit rating is for later chapters.
> 
> I'm using this monster as a fill for my StarkBucks Bingo card prompt "Mechanic". Later chapters may or may not be other fills.

The first time Bucky sought out Tony in the shop, Tony didn’t get it at first. Bucky was _Steve’s_ friend, not Tony’s. And besides, Bucky knew that Tony had been suspicious as all hell about Bucky’s motives. While he understood that it wasn’t really _Bucky_ that killed his parents, it didn’t really matter. He had still pulled the trigger.

So Tony had been giving Bucky plenty of space. And up until that morning, Bucky had returned the favor. But then he was _there_ , in Tony’s lab, _staring_ at him.

“Hey, it’s the Tin Soldier,” Tony said, because no one would ever accuse him of being cautious or having manners. “Something you need?”

He didn’t really expect an answer, so he wasn’t surprised when Bucky stayed quiet. He _was_ a little surprised when Bucky sat himself down at Tony’s workbench, and he started to get nervous when Bucky just _continued_ to stare at him.

Tony thought about pushing, but mentally gave a shrug and went about his research. Pepper had been after him for the review of the new operating system for the Stark phone, and he had been putting it off for days. He couldn’t help looking up every few minutes to see that yes, Bucky was still staring.

Finally, he couldn’t stand it anymore. “What?” he demanded. “There’s got to be some reason you’re down here, but I’m not Steve and I can’t read your mind, so tell me already so that I can do whatever it is, and you can get out of here.”

“The arm needs service,” Bucky said, his voice hesitant. “It’s… it’s not working quite right, and I can’t. I’ve never had to fix it myself, but if you don’t want to work on it, I understand.”

Bucky’s arm - well, Tony had to admit that he was curious. He’d been allowed to look it over when Bucky had first come to Steve, checking for tracking devices and explosives, but other than that, he’d been expected to be strictly hands off. And given how little choice Bucky had had in his life, Tony hadn’t ever expected that to change.

But here was Bucky, _asking_ for help. That made it okay, right?

Oh, hell, probably not, at least according to Saint Steve. “Let me just get Steve down here, okay?”

Bucky actually _rolled his eyes_ , which Tony had to admit was a point in his favor. “Who the hell do you think sent me to you, Stark?” Bucky asked, sounding much more like himself. “I tried to get him to fix it and he told me that mechanics was the one thing he was still hopeless at and that I should see you.”

“And he let you come down here by yourself?” Tony asked, a little incredulous.

“I am a grown man,” Bucky growled.

“Tried to come with you, didn’t he?” Tony laughed.

“Yeah, like an over-sized babysitter.” Bucky lifted the metal arm and laid it on the bench. “Well, are you going to look at it or not? I know you’ve been dying to get your hands on it.”

“I guess. If you’re sure you want me to?” Tony asked, but he was already turning to get one of his miniature tool kits.

“What I want is for the damn thing to stop randomly shocking me,” Bucky said.

“Well, that just sounds unpleasant,” Tony said. “If that’s the problem, I’m going to have to kill the power first. A shock that hurts you could probably do worse to me.”

Bucky gestured at the prosthetic with his real hand. “Do what you need to do,” he said.

So Tony dragged a stool over to where Bucky was sitting, and opened the panel at the top of his arm. They had established that there was a kill switch up there when Bucky had first come in, and it was a simple matter to power down the arm.

As the arm switched off, Bucky relaxed a little bit. If the arm had been randomly shocking him, Tony guessed he couldn’t really be blamed for being tense.

With Bucky staring at him silently, Tony opened the access panel on Bucky’s forearm and started to poke around the mechanics. These were definitely not from World War Two. “Has this ever been replaced?”

Bucky remained quiet for a moment or two before saying, “I think they did something to it every time I was frozen. I’m pretty sure it’s heavier than it was originally, but you know what my memory is like.”

Swiss cheese. Tony knew. But that confirmed that they had probably been upgrading it along the way, and what Tony wouldn’t have given to be able to pick the brain of the scientist who did the last redesign. But he knew for a fact that they were dead, and he couldn’t really begrudge Bucky that. So he gingerly checked connections and wiring, not wanting to actually do more damage than was already present. “You know, this needs a major overhaul,” he said, as he spied yet another wire that was starting to fray. “I mean, I can fix the problem right now - it looks like that there’s a short in one of the fuses - but I don’t think you were ever meant to go months without maintenance, much less years.”

“I know, but - “ Bucky hesitated. “I didn’t want to ask if I didn’t have to.”

That was interesting. Tony looked up from his study of the arm to meet Bucky’s eyes. “Didn’t want to because you didn’t want to be touched by me, didn’t want to be touched at all, or something else?”

“Because it’s not fair to ask you to repair the man who murdered your parents,” Bucky said, flatly.

Well, nothing like putting it right out there. “I don’t blame you for that.” At Bucky’s completely disbelieving look, Tony sighed and set down the screwdriver in his hand. “Okay, yeah, I did for a while. But it’s not like you set out to kill them, right?”

“Right,” Bucky said. “Still did it, though.”

“And we can stop talking about that any time now,” Tony snapped. “It wasn’t you, it was Hydra who were using you like I use my repulsors, and you had about as much choice. If you’re looking for anger or blame, I’ve gotten over it already. If you’re looking for absolution, look for a priest. But if you’re looking to have your arm fixed, you’re in the right place.”

“I’m - uh, okay,” Bucky said, stuttering. And wow, Tony really hadn’t meant to say all of that.

“Now, let me replace this fuse. I think I have one - Dummy, get me a 20 amp clear glass fuse. If you decide to let me overhaul this thing, the fuses are going to be the first thing to go. Obviously. Blow too easily.”

“Obviously,” Bucky said faintly, staring across the lab at where Dummy was making a mess of another bench, digging through one of the drawers looking for the fuse.

Tony realized that even if Dummy had been looking in the right drawer - which he wasn’t - he wouldn’t be able to pick up the fuse with the current array he had. “Never mind, Dummy,” he said, before the AI could wreck even more of the lab. “I’ll get it.”

He stood up and crossed to the bank of drawers, opening the one just below where Dummy had been fucking around. Dummy whistled his annoyance at Tony, and Tony grinned at him. “Not my fault you weren’t paying attention when they were put away.”

“Actually, Boss, Dummy was still in California when you set up that particular storage area. So he had no way of knowing,” FRIDAY said.

“Still, he’s a learning system. He should have learned by now,” Tony said, grabbing one of the fuses out of the drawer and returning to Bucky’s side.

“Of course, Boss. Dummy, start going through all of the drawers to learn their contents,” FRIDAY said.

Tony could see the disaster already. “Belay that, Dummy. Sometime when I have time we’ll go through the contents together,” he said. “FRIDAY, you’re a smartass.”

“I learned it from JARVIS,” she said.

“I should never have let you study his systems,” Tony said with a laugh, even as he pried the tiny fuse out of Bucky’s arm and checked the components around it for wear. Seeing very little, he carefully eased the new fuse into place and said, “Okay, that should solve the problem, at least for now.”

“Thanks. Can I have my arm back now?” Bucky asked, but he sounded amused. Well, Tony had to admit that he and his AIs put on quite the show.

“Yeah, just let me - “ He closed the panel on the forearm, and then reactivated the switch in the bicep that had killed the arm in the first place.

Bucky waited until that access panel was closed as well before he started moving the prosthetic through a set of motions that looked designed to test the servos and moving parts. Tony watched, noting places where the movement hitched or was less than smooth.

“Thanks, Stark,” Bucky said, pushing back from the bench and standing up. “Feels better already.”

“Don’t worry about it. I didn’t do much,” Tony said. “But like I said, the thing needs a complete overhaul. If you decide you’re ready to let me do that, let me know.”

“I’ll think about it.” Bucky hesitated for a moment, licking his lips and acting as if there was something else he wanted to say. But after a moment, he closed his mouth and then made his way out of the lab. Tony couldn’t help thinking how different it was from the way he used to slink around like a kicked dog. He had to admit that he liked this version better.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky's back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fits my StarkBucks Prompt "Don't say it"

The next time Bucky showed up in the workshop, Tony didn’t even notice at first. It was only when Dummy whistled an alert that he looked up from the work he was doing on the suit to see Bucky sitting in the same spot that he’d been in the last time. This time, the prosthetic was hanging limply at his side, and Bucky had a distinct “kicked puppy” look on his face.

“FRIDAY, turn it down,” he said, and when the volume of his music was lowered, he said, “What’s up, Bucky? Did it die?”

“Not completely,” Bucky said. “I had Steve use the kill switch. It’s shocking me again.”

“That fuse shouldn’t have blown again already,” Tony said, already picking up his toolkit, grabbing a fuse out of the right drawer, and walking over to where Bucky was sitting. “Unless you were doing something high stress.”

Bucky looked away and mumbled something that sounded like “I was trying to figure out how it worked.”

“Please tell me that you weren’t poking around in your own prosthetic while it was on,” Tony demanded. “I’m pretty sure you’re not _actually_ that stupid.”

“You just said that it needed work!” Bucky sounded defensive. “I didn’t want to bother you again is all! Besides, I used to be pretty good at mechanical stuff before, well, all of this.”

“Getting more memories back, are you?” Tony asked as he lifted the prosthetic up so that it was resting on the bench. Bucky stayed silent, and Tony knew better than to push on that particular issue. Instead he said, “Do you have any idea how you manage to support the weight of this thing without damaging other parts of you? It’s heavy as fuck.”

“You’ve seen my x-rays,” Bucky said flatly.

“Yeah,” Tony said, “I know they reinforced your shoulder with metal as well, but doesn’t it hurt your back? I don’t know how you aren’t lopsided with the muscle you must need not to just fall over.”

“It does. Hurt my back, that is. But it is what it is, and I can deal with it.”

Tony paused in opening up the panel on the forearm of Bucky’s arm. “Okay, you know that most of the weight of this thing is probably its power supply, right? And if you let me redo it, I could probably reduce the weight by half. Plus you’d get rid of these pesky fuses.”

“What - you’d put an arc reactor in there or something?” Bucky looked at Tony, who pursed his lips and looked away. “You’re kidding, right? What if the remains of Hydra re-take me? You’d just give them that tech?”

“Oh, give me a break,” Tony snapped. “We both know that if Hydra managed to retake you, Steve would be a one-man battalion to get you back. Anyone who got their hands on you wouldn’t live long enough to take it apart. And that’s assuming that they’re smart enough to do it without blowing themselves up.”

“And if I’m just playing a long game and take it back to them myself?”

Tony couldn’t help the shame that washed through him, knowing that Bucky was throwing back his own words at him. “All right, I admit that I thought that originally, but you don’t think I’d let you in my workshop - alone - if I still felt that way, right? Much less offer a redesign of your arm, which based on the cost of my time alone would be worth about a million dollars.”

“Jesus,” Bucky pulled back like he’d been slapped. “Just a suggestion, Stark. Don’t ever try to tell me that I should be flattered by money. Cause it pisses me off.”

Tony took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. “No effort at flattery, Barnes. Just a statement of fact. I _want_ to fix your damn arm, because looking at it makes my head and back hurt. Because you’re Cap’s best friend. Because you deserve to have better tech that isn’t breaking on you because you weren’t designed to go this long without being frozen. Pick a fucking reason. But _flattery_ isn’t one of them, dammit.”

Bucky stared at Tony for a long moment, and Tony resisted the urge to say something else. He’d said everything he was going to say on the matter for now.

“You mean it, don’t you?” Bucky asked, sounding surprised. “You really do want to fix my arm just because you want to fix it, not because you’d get something out of me.”

“I’m a fucking _mechanic_ , Barnes. Fixing things is what I _do_. So let me fix this short, and then you stop digging around in the damn thing.” With that he put his head down and looked for the fuse that had blown the last time. This time that one was fine, but a little bit of poking further up inside the casing he found a second fuse, and this one was blackened from the force with which it had blown. “How the hell did you not electrocute yourself when you did this?” Tony asked. “I can’t just replace the fuse. The setting is burned out. Make yourself comfortable, Barnes - it’s going to take a few minutes to fabricate a replacement.”

“Sorry,” Bucky’s voice was small. “I didn’t mean to make more work for you.”

Tony flashed him a quick smile. “Hey, I needed a break from the suit anyway. And this is an easy fix, actually. It’s just that the fabrication units need a little while to do their work.”

Carefully, Tony unscrewed the setting and pulled it out from inside the prosthetic. Once it was out, he set it on the bench and said, “Okay, FRIDAY. Scan and encode, send it to the fabrication unit. And see if you can do anything to reduce the weight without losing conductivity.”

“Yes, sir,” FRIDAY said, and lasers came down from the ceiling, scanning over the small piece, and then a virtual version appeared in mid-air, while data scrolled next to it. Tony watched the data, which was going almost faster than he could read.

“Pause,” he said, when he spotted it. “FRIDAY, is this thing really made from an alloy that you can’t identify?”

“Yes, sir,” she said. “It’s made up mostly of clionium, but there’s something else added that I haven’t seen before.”

“I really wish I could get my hands on Hydra’s designers,” Tony said without thinking.

“Sorry - killed ‘em,” Bucky said, his voice wry.

“Oh, I know, and I would have let you kill them anyway when I was done,” Tony said. “So I don’t blame you in the slightest. It would have just been nice to dig around in the design for this thing first. It would make troubleshooting it much easier.”

Tony got lost in watching FRIDAY’s analysis, so he was surprised when Bucky said, “I might be able to get you their records.”

“That would be - “ Then the meaning of what Bucky had just said sunk in. “Wait, _what_? You know where there are more records?” Tony figured that his shock could be forgiven. Almost all of the time when they broke up a Hydra cell, they’d already destroyed anything worth looking at. The idea that there might be information still out there that hadn’t been destroyed was mind-boggling.

Bucky stared with great focus at the readout in mid-air. “If my memory is accurate, there was an earlier primary base that had been abandoned before the stuff in DC. There might still be records there.”

“There’s a lot of mights and maybes there, Barnes,” Tony said. “Why are you telling me this now? Have you already told Steve?”

“I just remembered it,” Bucky said. “I haven’t said anything to Steve because it was looking at the piece from my arm that reminded me. And yeah, I can’t guarantee anything. Hydra might have destroyed it, like everything else. Or they might not have ever been there and I might be remembering things wrong, but it could be worth checking out.”

“Well, yeah, it’ll be worth it, but are you sure you’re up to it?” Tony wasn’t sure why he was so worried about it - Bucky had been in plenty of raids on Hydra since coming in from the cold, but Tony didn’t like the idea.

“I’ll have you and Steve on my side, plus Thor, the Hulk, Hawkeye, and the Black Widow. That’s pretty good odds right there, especially for a base that I’m pretty sure was abandoned about five years ago.”

“Well, first we have to finish this,” Tony said. “FRIDAY, how are you doing on the analysis?”

“I believe I’ve come up with an adequate substitution for the unknown element, and it reduces weight of the piece by thirty-five percent.” FRIDAY scrolled her results up on the screen, a little slower, and Tony turned his attention to it.

“Certainly looks like it would work. Looks like we’ll need to lay in a greater supply of clionium, though, so put that order through while this fabricates.” The fabrication units in the corner spun up, and started chugging through their routines as Dummy and Butterfingers kept them supplied with materials.

“You know, Stark, you’re not a bad guy,” Bucky said suddenly. “I know I’m kind of a lot to deal with, and you have no reason to help me, so, y’know, thank you.”

“Thank me after this works,” Tony said. “And if there’s anyone in the tower hard to deal with, that would be me, so no stealing my spotlight.”

Bucky laughed a little, which was Tony’s point. “Okay, I forgot that you’re the resident diva.”

“Damn straight.” The fabrication units dinged as they finished processing, and Butterfingers gingerly took the piece from them and carried it over to Tony. It looked the same as what Tony had pulled out of the prosthetic but without the scorchmarks. And when Tony weighed it in his palm, there was a distinct difference in the weight. “Good job, FRIDAY,” he said.

“Thank you, sir.”

Tony picked up one of the small screwdrivers and started to install the new piece in Bucky’s arm. He had to work carefully, as the piece was at the far edge of what he could reach from this particular panel, and opening the one above it wouldn’t help.

He worked without speaking for a few minutes, struggling to get the piece properly aligned, but finally the screws went in, and then he was able to pop the fuse into place. Closing the panel, he set down the screwdriver and powered the prosthetic back up. “How’s that?” he asked.

Bucky went through that same routine of movements that he had the first time, and it jammed in even more places. Tony resolutely kept his mouth shut though, because the frown on Bucky’s face made it clear that he saw it too. And Tony had already made it obvious that he was willing to redo the arm from scratch - hammering on that point would probably just make Bucky more stubborn. At least that’s how it was with Cap. Instead, Bucky said, “Thanks, Stark. No shocks - I like it. I’ll let Steve know about the old base, and I’m sure he’ll call a briefing about it.”

“I’m sure he will,” Tony said. “And the two of you are absolutely not allowed to go and do this by yourselves - if there’s information there, I _need_ it, so make that clear to him.”

Tony wasn’t really surprised when there was that moment of Bucky apparently fighting with himself about something he wanted to say or do. One of these days, Bucky would let it spill, Tony figured. In the meantime, Tony would just keep repairing the arm and trying to be helpful so that Bucky could figure out what he wanted.

Bucky lost the battle with himself to voice whatever it was. Instead Bucky threw him a half assed salute and took himself out of the workshop, leaving Tony to get back to the suit. “FRIDAY, while I rewire the left boot, I want you getting as much information out of that setting as you can.”

“Yes, Boss. Comparing to all known metallic substances,” she said, and Tony let it go, turning his attention to finishing the new suit. It sounded like he was going to need it sooner than later.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky's arm is becoming a bigger problem, and a confession

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> StarkBucks Prompt - I4, Anticipation

He wasn’t completely surprised when Cap didn’t call for a briefing right away. While he was almost as blood thirsty when it came to Hydra as Bucky was, Cap was always hesitant to go into a fight if Bucky was going to join them. He was as protective as a hen. He _was_ surprised to see Bucky less than thirty-six hours later. “Barnes - it can’t be shocking you again?”

“It’s not. It’s also not working right.” Bucky lifted his prosthetic, only the motion was jerky and uncoordinated as opposed to smooth and even. “I have no idea what’s wrong with it, but I can’t - it can’t work like this. If I had to go into a fight I’d be worse than useless. I’d be a liability.”

“Yeah,” Tony had to agree. “That’s not good. When did it start?”

“Almost immediately after I was here last. I thought at first it was just that the new part wasn’t integrated quite right, but it’s been getting exponentially worse with every hour.” Bucky’s face stayed fairly neutral, but Tony guessed that this was terrifying for him. Bucky hated his arm, but it was part of him at this point.

“Okay, let’s see what we’ve got,” Tony said. “FRIDAY, can you bring up the baseline studies that we did when Bucky first got to the tower, and whatever data you managed to harvest from his last two visits to the lab?”

“Yes, Boss.” A hologram sprang up in front of them, and Tony was impressed when Bucky didn’t immediately recoil. Data started to scroll as FRIDAY started the analysis, and Tony left her to it as he started to run Bucky through a series of tests to check mobility and sensation. On every single one, he’d lost ability. The greatest loss was to the ability to tell how much pressure he was exerting with that hand, which was terrifying.

“Bucky? Don’t try to grab anyone with this hand until we get this sorted out,” Tony said, a little sick at the thought of how much damage he could accidentally do without that sensor.

“Yeah.” Bucky looked frightened, which to Tony was as informative as if Bucky broke down completely. “Jesus, I could kill any one of you.”

Trying to lighten the mood, Tony said, “Probably not Thor.”

“I’m not worried about _Thor_ ,” Bucky said, sounding like he thought Tony was just stupid.

“You probably couldn’t do much damage to Steve either,” Tony hurried to reassure him, assuming that that was who Bucky was actually worried about.

Bucky gave a huff of annoyance. “I know I can’t hurt Steve or Thor, or even Bruce, probably. But I could do a hell a lot of damage to _you_.”

“Oh, well, yeah,” Tony said. “But you’re not likely to grab me, so it’s okay.”

“You know, for a smart guy, you’re pretty stupid,” Bucky said. “I _want_ to grab you. You’re helping me, you’re good looking, you’re easy on the eyes, and I was thinking last time I was here that if we could get the arm working right that I might kiss you.”

“What?” Tony asked. “I mean, _what_?”

“I haven’t exactly been _subtle_ , Tony.” Bucky huffed and rolled his eyes.

“Well, clearly you’ve been more subtle than you thought, because I had no idea you thought about me that way,” Tony said, annoyed at the fact that he hadn’t seen this coming. “I mean, I don’t object to the idea, but what about Steve?”

“ _What_ about Steve?” Bucky asked, moving closer.

“I thought you and him - “ Tony started to say.

Bucky stopped moving for a second, and then he was laughing so hard that he looked like he was going to break something. “Me? Me and _Steve?_ You don’t see that I’m practically wanting to climb you like a tree, _and_ you think that I’m interested in _Steve_?”

“Why is that so funny?” Tony asked in annoyance. “You practically live in each other’s pockets, he’s all over you after every mission, you’re always _touching_.”

Still giggling, Bucky said, “Tony, Steve is pretty much my little brother. We’ve known each other forever and we’re from a generation that did things very differently than you folks. Men could touch without it meaning anything sexual. I mean, you are aware of that?”

“Well, no, not really. I mean, my dad was of the same generation as you guys, and he wasn’t really what I’d call touchy-feely.” Tony was feeling discombobulated, like the world had shaken under his feet and he wasn’t sure where to stand.

“Your dad was too afraid of what people thought of him,” Bucky said. “Steve and I knew _exactly_ what people thought of us, and especially after the serum, Steve didn’t have anything to prove. So yeah, we’re pretty handsy by today’s American standards. But those are fucked, you know that, right?”

“Right,” Tony said faintly. Here he was, getting taken to school about forties social mores and the problem with modern American standards. Wait, why was he doing this again? “So, that explains why you and Steve are all over each other. But what about me - why are you saying you want to kiss _me_?”

“I already told you why,” Bucky said. “I mean, if you aren’t interested, that’s fine. Your loss, after all. But if you are, then why am I still standing here jawing about this?”

“I’m interested,” Tony admitted. “Confused, but interested.”

“I can work with confused,” Bucky said, and moved closer. “I’m going to kiss you now, okay?”

“Okay,” Tony said, and then Bucky’s lips were on his, soft and a bit chapped, and it had been too long since Tony had been kissed by anybody. And this was kissing with _intent_ , even if Bucky wasn’t making any attempt to open Tony’s mouth. No, Tony decided to do that all on his own, thank you, and then Bucky’s tongue was in his mouth, and Tony decided that he liked the way that Bucky tasted and smelled, and why hadn’t he done this a long time ago?

Because sometimes, Tony was an idiot, that was why.

Even though Tony was perfectly willing to keep going, Bucky broke off after a few minutes, taking a step back. “Fuck, that’s nice,” he said.

“Yes, it is,” Tony answered. “So what the hell are you doing all the way over there?”

“Until we figure out what’s going on with the pressure sensor, I don’t feel safe going any further.” Bucky sounded apologetic but firm, and Tony guessed that if he was anything like Steve, he wouldn't be budged once he made up his mind.

Sighing, Tony said, “Fine. Nothing more than kissing until we fix your arm. This means you’re going to let me fix it, though, right? Not just half assed repairs that break two days later?”

“If we can find the old base and there’s information there, I’ll let you rebuild it from scratch,” Bucky promised. “And then we’ll see just what kind of trouble we can get up to.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team raids the old Hydra base.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For my StarkBucks prompt "The Winter Soldier"

Two days later, Cap called a briefing, and Tony’s curiosity about what had taken so long was instantly answered at the look on his face. Steve did _not_ want Bucky to do this. It had probably taken the full two days and some sort of threat from Bucky to force the issue. Because yeah, sometimes Steve was the world’s biggest babysitter.

The two of them outlined the situation for Bruce, Thor, Clint, and Natasha, with Steve making it clear that the priority for this one was information gathering and that they believed that the base was abandoned, but the whole team was going to just be safe.

Bruce spoke up. “I’m going to stay on the outside for this one,” he said. “The last thing you need is the other guy in there.”

“That’s reasonable,” Steve said. “I do want you nearby, just in case.” _In case Hydra was still there_ went unspoken.

When there were no other questions, the seven of them went up to the roof. Thor and Tony were going to make their own way to the location in rural Kentucky (really, Hydra? Why was it never Hawaii?), while the other five flew together in the quinjet, just in case the base wasn’t as abandoned as they thought. The quinjet was pretty maneuverable for a plane, but Tony and Thor would be faster to respond to anti-aircraft equipment.

It only took about two hours to get there, and then they were all hovering over what looked like an abandoned farmhouse. Through the radio, Tony heard Steve ask, “You sure, Buck?” and Buck’s “Yeah, this is the place,” before Clint radioed that they were setting down.

Normally they wouldn’t leave Bruce on guard by himself, but the base certainly looked abandoned, and if it wasn’t, the Hulk would be better off outside. And they were hoping for a quick smash and grab, which meant as many hands as they could have down below.

Bucky led them to the falling-down barn rather than the farmhouse, and then through the storm door on the side. It led down below the barn, and seemed sturdy enough, and then it dead-ended into a wall.

Everyone parted and let Bucky through to the front. Tony could see that there was a faint heat signature through the wall, but when Bucky pressed a brick on the wall, it was a bit of a surprise that it slid out of the way smoothly. The area behind the wall was dark, lit only by what was coming in from behind them.

And then the storm door slammed shut.

Fuck.

The suit did what it was supposed to do and immediately switched over to infrared. He could see the team, and the residual heat he’d noticed in the first place, but nothing else for a long moment, and then a computerized voice spoke. “Password,“ the voice stated.

Bucky immediately said, “Alpha nine papa seven three delta six six four mike lima four.”

“Password incorrect. Input correct password,” the computer said.

There was a brief hesitation as everyone looked at Bucky, and then he said, “Three, oscar, tango, six, nine, quebec, kilo, four, india, echo, seven, four.”

There was another pause, and then the computer said, “Password accepted. Asset recognized. Proceed.” Slowly the lights came up, and Tony was a little relieved that it was still just the six of them, and what looked like banks of files and computer drives.

There was also one of those fucking _evil_ chairs, right in the middle of the room. Tony wanted nothing more than to rip it to pieces, and he didn’t know how Steve was restraining himself from doing exactly that.

No wonder Bucky had thought that they’d be able to find information about the arm here. This had clearly been one of the places where they’d reprogrammed him between missions.

“I know it looks like we’re alone down here, but I don’t trust it,” Steve said and he sounded stressed and angry. “Thor, go see if you can open that external door so that we’re not trapped down here.”

“He’s not going to be able to open the door,” Bucky said, but his voice sounded odd as if he wasn’t quite all there.

Steve jerked his head at Thor, who turned and pushed on the storm door, which, as Bucky had said, wouldn’t open. “Bucky, what’s going on?” Steve asked.

“The two doors can’t be open at the same time,” Bucky said. “We should gather what we came for and then we can all leave at the same time.”

Tony held his breath, uncertain whether he wanted Steve to abort the mission or go ahead with it. When Steve hesitantly nodded, he took a deep breath.

“Let’s prioritize the drives,” Tony said, pulling out a screwdriver to start unmounting them from the frames that held them. They were older external drives but FRIDAY should still be able to pull the data off them, even if they were encrypted. “They’re going to be easier to move than the paper files.”

“You heard the man,” Steve said, and while Clint, Natasha, and Tony unmounted the drives, Steve, Bucky, and Thor put them in piles to be carried, while also trying to pull anything out of the paper files that looked interesting. Given that the security was still in place, if outdated, Tony didn’t count on them being undiscovered for long.

Finally, Clint popped the last drive out of its casing, and they each picked up a stack of information, stepping through the hidden door, which slammed shut behind the last of them. As soon as it did, Bruce opened the storm door from outside. “Finally. Did you guys hear me over the radio down there?”

“No,” Steve said. “It must have been shielded.”

Bruce took the stack of files from Natasha and nodded at Bucky. “He okay?”

She shrugged, turning to take the lead back to the quinjet. “I don’t think he liked being there very much.”

Tony had to agree. Bucky was pale, and still had a lost look in his eyes, but he was carrying his share of the stuff they’d scavenged and was keeping up with Steve well enough. They got on board the jet, and this time, by unspoken agreement, Tony and Thor stayed on board, letting Clint pilot them all home.

“Should we just be leaving everything else there?” Clint asked from the front of the plane. “I mean, it doesn’t look like it’s been used in a couple of years, but there might be someone out there who still remembers it.”

Tony met Steve’s eyes. Clearly, Steve wanted no part of going back. “We’ll get Coulson and the bus,” he said. “Give new SHIELD something to do. Besides, those two wonder kids he’s got might be able to find something that we missed.”

“I’ll tell him when we talk tonight,” Clint said. “I think they’re in South America right now, so it might take a little while to get there.”

“In the meantime, I can send some of SI’s security,” Tony said. “Since Maria has tightened them up, they should be able to hold off anyone who might want to get to what we left.”

Bucky, who was starting to look better as they put more distance between him and the old base, said, “Might want to double that team - we may have set off an alarm.”

“What?” both Steve and Tony demanded.

Bucky winced a little. “I hadn’t expected it to still be connected to the Hydra network at all, and it accepted one of my old passwords, not the one that I had been using when we failed in DC, but there may have been an alarm or something that noted the use of an incorrect one.”

“Okay,” Tony said. “So twice the number that Maria thinks is reasonable until Coulson can get there. That’s the plan?”

Steve and Bucky both nodded, and Tony said, “Stupid plan, but whatever. Let me make a call.”

He put his helmet back on and said, “FRIDAY, dial Maria Hill.”

It rang twice and then was answered in Maria’s crisp tones. “Hill here,” she said.

“Hey, Maria. Got a job for you. FRIDAY, send her the coordinates.” He paused for a moment, listening as Maria typed on her computer. “You should have them in your computer by now. We just raided an old Hydra base, and while I think we got all the computer information, there’s a ton of paper files still left. We’re going to send Coulson and the bus, but it might take him a day or three to get there.”

“Let me guess,” Maria said. “You need a security detail until they do?”

“Yeah. And Maria? There’s a possibility that we may have triggered an alarm, so send twice as many as you would normally, right? I don’t want our guys walking into a trap.”

“Got it, Stark. Anything else?”

“Nah. I’m calling Pepper after you and she’s going to yell at me, but there’s nothing you can do about that.”

“Damn straight. And even if I could, I wouldn’t,” she said before hanging up.

Pulling off the helmet again, he said, “Okay, I’ve talked to Hill and the security detail is covered. They’ll stay until Coulson is finished taking every last piece of paper out of the place. Next, I need to get us some help going through all the computer and paper files we just helped ourselves to.”

Bucky tensed, and Steve rested a hand on his shoulder, squeezing slightly. “It’s okay, Buck,” he said. “Tony’s got a team that’s been cleared and double-checked. If he says they’re safe, then they’re safe.”

“Damn straight. When shit went down in DC, we cleaned house big time. Second time we’ve had to do it - I’m getting pretty good at it by now.” He smiled, knowing that it was grim and a bit bloodthirsty. “The people who didn’t pass - let’s just say they’re not enjoying life right now.”

“If you’re sure,” Bucky said.

“Well, I’m definitely sure that it’d take me forever to get through all these files by myself, even with FRIDAY’s capable help.”

“Thank you, Boss,” FRIDAY said over the jet’s speakers.

“Just the truth, F,” Tony said. “Besides, you’re going to do the hard work of decrypting the drives. Might as well use regular humans to scan everything else.” He tried not to grimace at the next part. “Now I need to call Pepper because I’m going to be stealing part of her favorite team for this,” he said.

He thought about keeping the conversation private, like he had with Maria, but maybe Bucky would relax if he could hear it. “FRIDAY, connect me to Pepper.”

The phone rang exactly once before it was answered by Pepper’s secretary, a fearsome woman named Beatrice. “Mister Stark, Miss Potts is in a meeting with the Wakandan Delegation and cannot be disturbed. They are discussing the possible collaboration that you brought up about trading clean energy technology.”

“I know that’s important, but so is this. She can be disturbed by me,” Tony said, trying to make his voice wheedling.

“She specifically said she can’t be disturbed by you, most of all,” Beatrice said, and Tony sighed.

“It’s about Avengers business, Beatrice. And you know that Pepper and I have an agreement that I won’t use that to go behind your back. So please ask her to take three minutes to take this call.”

There was a heavy silence on the other end, and then Beatrice said, “It better actually be Avengers business or I’ll never put you through again, Mister Stark.”

SI’s hold music came on, and Tony looked around at the amused faces of his team. “Is anyone else terrified of that woman or is it just me?”

“I think it’s just you, Tony,” Natasha said. She smiled, all teeth, and Tony stuck his tongue out at her.

“What is it, Tony?” Pepper asked, picking up on her end of the line. “This better be important.”

“It is, Pep. I promised when we broke up, didn’t I?” Tony knew he flinched away from everyone’s obvious interest. That they were broken up was common knowledge - why and how and how he’d kept Pepper as CEO was _private_ , and hopefully, she was going to remember that, or wanting to keep Bucky in the loop or not, he was putting the helmet back on.

“I know. But I have four members of the Wakandan scientific community in my office, waiting to be persuaded that a technology exchange is to all of our benefit, so I can’t keep them waiting. What is it you need?”

“So, we just raided an old Hydra base, and I’m stealing your research team,” Tony blurted out.

“Oh, my god. Is everyone okay? Why didn’t I see anything on the news? Do I need medical on standby when you get back?” Tony was a little gratified to hear that Pepper was still worried about them, even if they weren’t a couple anymore.

“It appeared to be abandoned, so no fight, and no news,” he said.

“Alas,” Thor broke in. “It was a quiet raid indeed.”

“Just the way we like them,” Steve said, glaring at Thor.

Tony could tell from Pepper’s sigh that she didn’t want to deal with the team’s antics right now, so he said, “Anyway, like I said, no fight, but we managed to scavenge a bunch of hard drives and some paper data. I need your research team, starting tomorrow, to go through the paper.”

“Why can’t FRIDAY do it?” Pepper asked.

“She’s going to be working on the encryption and looking for specific information. But all of the information needs to be sorted and rated for importance. And paper files are easier for people than AIs.”

“And why do you need _my_ team?” Pepper asked, but she sounded like it was pro forma, not like she was going to actually stop him.

“Because it’s Hydra, and because your team is the best screened and also the smartest out of all the researchers at SI,” Tony said with a grin.

“Flattery will get you… apparently a research team,” Pepper said, but she was laughing. “You can have them for two weeks. Then I get them back, working on actual _SI_ projects, you got that?”

“Two weeks, returned to you, shiny and clean,” Tony said, and Pepper laughed out loud before she cut the call.

“So that’s taken care of,” Tony said, looking around the quinjet. Clint was busy flying, and everyone else looked fairly relaxed as they flew back towards New York. Bucky in particular looked a lot more relaxed than he had in that fucking pit, which Tony was glad to see, if only because it meant that Steve would be less of a pain in the ass if Bucky wasn’t stressed out.

When they got back to New York, the team helped him carry everything down to his lab, and then they scattered with the exception of Bruce. Tony sighed, surveying the small mountain of hard drives and paper files. “I think I have an old rack we can mount the hard drives into,” he said to Bruce.

“You grab that, and I’ll help you load them all up,” Bruce said, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt.

Tony found it, shoved in the back of one of the storage closets, and rolled it out to where Bruce was stacking the paper more neatly, sorting it from the drives. It didn’t take them long to load them into the rack and get them wired together. Once that was done, they rolled the whole rack closer to one of the ports. “FRIDAY, you ready to isolate this whole thing? Maximum security - it would be just like Hydra to leave a virus or something behind.”

“It’s behind the strongest firewall I have, Boss,” FRIDAY said. “Feel free to plug them in at any time, so that I can start the decryption process. Depending on how much their protocols have changed over time, I should have some results for you in the morning.”

Tony fumbled with the cable, just now realizing how tired he was. He knew it was a letdown from the adrenaline rush. Even though there hadn’t been a fight, they had all been on edge for one, and that wiped him out almost as much. He managed to get the rack connected to the port, and then Bruce took him by the arm. “I think it’s time for a break,” Bruce said, and all Tony could do was agree


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They start making discoveries about Bucky's arm. And Bruce finds out about the two of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starkbucks Prompt G3 "Bucky/Tony/Bruce"

Under Bruce’s prodding, Tony ate dinner and made an early night of it, knowing that FRIDAY would ping him if she found anything that couldn’t wait.

After team breakfast - a tradition after all missions, regardless of whether or not they fought, apparently - he went back to the lab, trailed by Bruce and Bucky. He found Pepper’s team in the conference room off the lab, already sorting through the papers that they had brought back and confirmed that FRIDAY had let them in and directed them in collecting their materials.

Leaving the files in their capable hands, he returned to the actual lab, and said, “Wakey, wakey, kids.”

“Good morning, Boss,” FRIDAY said as Butterfingers and Dummy came over, looking for their morning checks. “The encryption on the drives indicated that Hydra had not changed their protocols in a substantial period of time. It was relatively easy to track back and break it down. There was indeed a virus embedded in the drives, safely isolated and destroyed. Am I correct in assuming that you were looking for information on Sergeant Barnes’ prosthetic?”

“Yeah, did you find anything?” Tony threw himself into a lab chair, sending it spinning, and waving Bruce and Bucky towards chairs of their own.

“I did. Not a complete diagram of the arm, but some historical data on how the hardware has been updated over time. By comparing those files to what I have seen of the inside of the Sergeant’s arm, it seems that they did not make substantial changes to it in the last five years, which is how old these files are.”

“I don’t know how long I was on ice the last time,” Bucky admitted. “For all I know I was in cryo for all of it until DC.”

“So these diagrams should be useful then,” Bruce said.

“Hopefully.” Tony looked at the two of them. “We can’t assume anything about these assholes, but it gives us a starting point. FRIDAY - can you scan the schematics and throw ‘em up for us?”

“All ready for you, Boss,” FRIDAY said, and then the air exploded with diagrams and descriptions. Tony was amused at the look at Bucky’s face - this was an even bigger show than the last time Bucky had seen the holograms in use - but then his attention got caught by one of the diagrams.

“This is the fuse that was burnt out the first time,” he said, pointing at its spot in the hologram. Using his fingers, he expanded it, so that they could all see the details of the area around it. The diagrams let them see exactly what each fuse and wire controlled, but it didn’t explain how they got such good nerve conduction.

Bruce pointed out one of the filaments that trailed out of the casing of the arm and was embedded in the muscle of Bucky’s shoulder. “This shouldn’t work,” he said. “This has all the finesse of sticking electrodes to a piece of steak and expecting it to moo like a cow. It’s not connected directly to the nervous system, it’s not a particularly good place for conduction, it just shouldn’t work.”

“Well, right now, it’s not,” Bucky said grimly, lifting the prosthetic a few inches and demonstrating its lack of grace. “Right now, it’s less use than that steak, because at least a steak would be dinner. So why was it working?”

“I don’t know,” Tony said, “But we’ll figure it out.”

They spent several hours poring over the records, trying to figure out if there was a rhyme or reason to the way the nerve conduction worked, but could find nothing at all.

Finally, late in the afternoon, they got a call from Clint that Coulson and the bus were on their way to Kentucky, which worked as a hint for the three of them to go next door and see how the research team was fairing. Maybe they were having better luck.

“So what do you have for us?” Tony asked, as they all looked up, looking just as sharp and as alert as they had that morning. Tony suspected ADHD drugs, honestly.

“We’re still sorting everything, Mister Stark,” one of the women said - Tony thought her name was Susan. “Mike and Jing are looking over anything that seems to be engineering related.” A black man and an Asian woman looked up from the corner of the room where Susan pointed. “They can go over what they’ve found so far.”

“Anything that appears to be on fire, first of all?” Tony asked.

“No,” she said. “This stuff is pretty dated for Hydra. It’s mostly lists of personnel and bases, which we’re cross checking against lists of known agents and locations, engineering stuff. Nothing that seems urgent, but we might be wrong.”

“Well, no need to work overtime on this one just yet then,” Tony said. “Finish your normal day and go home, come back at it with fresh eyes.”

Bruce smiled at Tony. “You can be taught,” he said, teasing. “Real people take breaks to sleep and eat. Isn’t that right, Susan?”

“Y-yes, Doctor Banner,” Susan stammered, and her cheeks grew pink. Tony realized that she probably had a crush on Bruce, which was adorable, really.

But because he _was_ capable of being a grown up, he left it alone and wandered over to Mike and Jing, looking over their shoulders to see what they were looking at.

Some of it seemed to match up with the diagrams that they’d been looking at in the lab - earlier versions, maybe, or just hard copy, but he noticed one stack of paper set aside. “What’s that?”

“It’s all about a new alloy that they claim to have created,” Jing said, as Mike picked it up and pointed at a few words.

“Yeah, they called it reprium,” Mike said. “It was a mix of clionium and something we’ve never heard of, called faskyx. There’s a lot of talk about the faskyx - apparently they tried to mix it with several other metals before they tried clionium, but no information about the faskyx itself. Either they created a new element, or they’re calling one that already exists by a new name.”

“Okay, I want all the information you can find on that. We should have the rest of the papers in a couple of days. This needs to be a priority,” Tony said.

“Got it, Mister Stark.” Jing looked like she was going to say something else, but she cut herself off.

“Spill, Jing,” he said. “And all of you call me Tony,” he added, raising his voice slightly. “I’m pretty sure we’ve had this conversation before.”

“Mister - Tony - it would be helpful if we could pull in one of the engineering teams once the rest of the papers get here. As I understand it, this is only a small percentage of what you hope to recover, and it’s taken most of the day to get this much sorted. And Ms Potts said we’re only here for two weeks.”

“Done. What else do you need? And I really meant it, by the way. Nothing is so urgent that you need to work yourselves to death. At least not yet.”

“Until it gets here and we see what else we find, I don’t know what else we might need,” Mike said. “But I agree with Jing - we’re going to need more engineering hands. About sixty percent of the papers we’ve gone through so far need to be at least looked at by a mechanical or chemical engineer.”

“Well, I’ve got a bunch of both on tap,” Tony said with a laugh. “We’ll get them up here when you let me know you’re ready for them.”

“Thanks, Mister Stark,” Mike said, only correcting to “Tony" when Tony mock-glared at him.

The rest of the team was split between computer engineers, physicists, biochemists, and general research. Tony walked around the room, peering over shoulders to see what everyone was looking at. When he spotted the physicists, he called Bruce over to spot check their work, and set Bucky loose with the general researchers.

By the time five rolled around, he had a pretty good grasp of what everyone was finding. Like Susan had said, nothing on fire, but lots of good information about the technology in use by Hydra, some of their weapons and some of which had been used on Bucky.

The brainwashing stuff made him shudder to touch it, but he set that aside for Bucky and Bruce to go through as well. As a condition of living with the Avengers, Coulson required Bucky to see a psychiatrist once a week, and some of this information might be useful for her. But he wasn’t going to turn it over without Bucky’s approval.

“Okay kids, go home,” he said. “Be back here, caffeinated and ready to go at… whatever ungodly hour you guys usually start.”

“Thanks, Tony,” various members of the group said as they neatly stacked papers and stood up to stretch. He didn’t wait for them to leave. Instead he caught Bruce’s and Bucky’s eyes and gestured towards the lab.

“So, the information about the alloy is definitely interesting,” Tony said once the lab door closed behind them. “I’d say that it was a metal that they renamed, but, well, I created an element once, so I can’t _guarantee_ that they didn’t do the same. I’d be happier if we could find a paper trail about it, though. A sample of it would be better.”

“We have a sample,” Bucky said. “We have the piece you removed from my arm.”

“Well, yes.” Tony scratched the back of his neck while he thought. “I was more hoping for a piece of the faskyx that isn’t already in the alloy, but I guess we could run it through the mass spec and see what comes up.”

Bruce nodded. “At least that’ll give a place to start looking until Coulson gets here with the rest of the records.”

“I guess I’ll just head back to the group until you need me,” Bucky said, but he sounded reluctant.

Tony didn’t blame him, but unfortunately this wasn’t something that Bucky could really help with. On the other hand, having him nearby meant that if they figured something out they could test it right away. And Tony didn’t want to admit it out loud, but he liked having Bucky nearby - maybe he could at least get some more kisses out of it.

So he said, “Nah, you can stay right here. Maybe something we’ll do will spike another memory, or if we need to test something, we won’t have to wait for you to come down.”

“Are you sure I won’t be in the way?” Bucky asked, but he sounded pleased to be asked to stay.

“I’m sure. Besides, while I’m working on that alloy, I’d like Bruce to take a better look at the connections between the arm and your shoulder, if that’s okay? We really need to figure out how this works with your nervous system.”

Bucky bit his lip, but nodded. Tony tried to give him a reassuring smile and then pointed to the corner where most of the imaging equipment was kept. “Okay, you two head over there and see what you find. I’m going to work on the piece I took out of your arm.”

Bruce nodded and immediately headed over, turning on various pieces of equipment to warm them up. Bucky, however, hesitated for a minute. “Thanks,” he said. “For, you know, everything.”

“Thank me when we get your arm working,” Tony said, but when Bucky started to turn away, he said, “You know, there’s one thing you can do to thank me now.”

“Oh, what would that be?” Bucky’s eyes glinted with mischief, as if he had a pretty good idea of what Tony might say.

“Give me a kiss first.”

Bucky chuckled and brushed a quick, chaste kiss over his lips before pulling back. His eyes cut over to Bruce, who was watching with interest.

“Don’t care if you don’t,” Tony said. “Besides, I’m more worried about what’s going to happen when Steve realizes I’ve been being kissed by you.”

“Ah, nothing’s going to happen,” Bucky said. “He’s all bluster.”

“And big enough to break me in half,” Tony muttered, but before Bucky could argue, Tony pointed to where Bruce waited patiently. “Go on, go over there. I have data crunching to do.”

Bucky sketched a half assed salute and went to Bruce, while Tony went to the workbench and picked up the small piece he’d removed from Bucky’s arm several days earlier. He noted again that it was heavy for its size, and the metal, where it wasn’t scorched, was dull and an odd blue-green color. Clionium was normally a clearer blue, Tony knew, so the color had to be due to whatever it was that Hydra had mixed into it.

Getting down the laser cutter from its place on the wall, he pulled on a pair of goggles and carefully sliced a small piece off, which he gave to Butterfingers to put in the mass spec. While it did its work, he pulled up the diagrams that they’d downloaded from the Hydra files and started to go through them more thoroughly.

There wasn’t much in the way of labeling or notation, and what little existed was mostly in German. Thankfully, FRIDAY provided a helpful translation in the hologram.

There was definitely a power source high up inside the bicep, but it was smaller than Tony expected, given the weight of the arm. Also, compared to the wiring that controlled function, the power seemed more modern, as if the design had been done in two different time periods. That would explain why the fuses were blowing out.

As Tony dug deeper, there was notation that indicated that the “asset” should not be out of cryo for more than a week at a time, and that any amount greater than that would require extensive maintenance of the arm. There were also instructions of what should be done to the arm prior to and immediately following cryo. Reading between the lines, Tony thought that some of this was done deliberately - that the arm was designed to break down easily, to force Bucky to go back to Hydra for repairs, even if he didn’t want to.

And that realization made him want to throw things. The Hydra scientists had clearly been good enough to design something that could take a lot of wear and tear. Instead, they’d designed it in such a way that it would definitely break down, and in the worst, most painful way possible.

Poor engineering Tony could forgive, even as he made fun of it. _Malicious_ engineering? That was unforgivable.

The mass spec dinged, and Tony gestured, throwing the results up and obscuring the Hydra records. It apparently attracted either Bucky’s or Bruce’s attention, because he’d barely started to review them when they were both right next to him.

“What did it show?” Bucky asked.

“Give me a minute,” Tony muttered, already pulling the results apart. “Okay, this?” He isolated one set of results and pushed them to the side. “This is the clionium. Fairly rare metal, but not impossible to get your hands on. I do know that it combines well with other metals, so a solid choice for an alloy. But we knew that already.”

Pulling out the other set of readings, he pointed out the peaks and valleys. “This must be the faskyx. The mass spec isn’t able to completely match it to any other known metal. What’s interesting is what it’s indicating is close to it - several metals only found in meteorites.”

“So what’s in my arm came from _space_?” Bucky sounded amazed. “That’s - why would they do that? They can’t have had very much of this metal to start with - why would they even think to stick it in my arm in the first place?”

“Well, hopefully the answer to that is in the files that Coulson will bring us,” Tony said. “And I don’t _know_ that it came from space - just that that’s the closest match.”

“Can I have a sample of the alloy?” Bruce asked. “I want to run some conduction studies on it.”

“Sure.” Tony reached for the laser cutter. “How big of a piece do you need? And care to share your thoughts with the class?”

“About a centimeter square,” Bruce said. “And I’ve already told Bucky this, but the studies I just did of how the arm is connected to Bucky’s nervous system confirm my initial reaction. It _should not_ work. The wires aren’t connected to any high density nerve areas, or even the end of the main trunk of the nerves where it comes out of his spine. They seem to be almost random, like they just jammed wires in there and waited to see what would happen.”

Tony carefully cut the piece that Bruce asked for, and then said, “So, what - you think there’s something special about the way this metal conducts nerve energy.”

“Precisely. It’s got to be doing some pretty impressive nerve conduction for it to be working at all. And it would explain why Bucky’s arm started to malfunction even more when you replaced a part with another alloy.”

“Does this mean that without more of this fas-whatever, Tony can’t repair my arm?” Bucky asked, his voice low and strained. “I mean, it’s not like I love the damn thing, but I’m pretty much useless to the Avengers without it.”

“Hey,” Tony said, looking up and meeting Bucky’s eyes. “First off, even without the arm, you’re hardly useless. Second of all, even if we can’t fix _this_ arm due to lack of materials, between Bruce, me, and all the experts I can wrangle up? We can build you a _better_ arm. So you need to stop worrying about being useful, okay?”

Bucky bit his lip, but nodded slowly. “I guess.” Just then, his stomach growled, and Tony was amused to see that he honest-to-god _blushed_.

As much as he would have liked to tease Bucky, he decided that Bucky was having a tough enough day as it was, so all he said was, “I guess we’ve done enough today. I’m pretty sure that we all need to eat and get some sleep, since I hope that Coulson will be here sometime tomorrow with the rest of the records.”

Bucky looked grateful, and Bruce looked torn. “I really want to get a start on those studies,” Bruce said.

“You’re the one who’s always telling me to take breaks when I can,” Tony said. “That goes both ways. Hopefully we’ll have more data to work with tomorrow.”

“Fine.” Bruce set the small piece of alloy down on the workbench. “Are you two going to stay here for a while? Do I need to run interference?” He didn’t say that he expected them to hang around the lab and make out, but it was implied by inference.

Tony looked at Bucky hopefully, but Bucky shook his head. “I told you I’m not doing more than giving you a few kisses until we either get the pressure sensor fixed or we take the arm off.”

“Let’s not go there just yet,” Tony said. “Contrary to my press, I _am_ capable of keeping it in my pants. But I do think I should get at least _one_ kiss before we go upstairs.”

Bucky laughed and said, “Okay, one kiss. But _only_ one.” He leaned forward and brushed his lips over Tony’s, pulling back when Tony would have deepened the kiss.

Tony glanced over at Bruce, who was grinning broadly. “I’m not saying a word,” he said. “Let’s go see what the rest of the team did for dinner.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky and Tony get a night's sleep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Square N2 - Nonsexual Intimacy

Dinner apparently had been pizza, but someone - probably Steve - had set aside enough for the three of them, as well as a large salad. Tony pointedly ignored the salad, but grabbed several pieces of pizza before jumping up to sit on the counter to eat them.

“You know, people cook there,” Clint said as he came into the kitchen.

“Yeah, but I don’t. My kitchen, my rules, and besides I didn’t even do anything today to get my jeans dirty,” Tony said. At the breakfast bar, Bruce and Bucky smothered laughs.

Clint sighed. “I came in to let you know that Coulson called. His team is at the Hydra base and have started packing it up for transport with Hill’s team helping.”

“Any idea how long it’ll take?” Bucky asked.

“Coulson said at least a day, maybe two. There are a _lot_ of files, and Fitz or Simmons - one of them, anyway, seems to think that there may be another room, so they’re trying to figure out how to access it. According to Coulson, though, both of them got very excited by some of the stuff they spotted in the files already.”

“Did he say what?” Tony asked.

“Like I asked?” Clint said with a lascivious wink.

“Ugh, I don’t want to think about the two of you doing any… agenting,” Tony said, faking disgust. “As far as I’m concerned, Coulson is a Ken doll.”

“Oh, I can guarantee he’s not a Ken doll.” Clint leaned against the counter next to Tony. “In fact, I really like it when he -”

Tony slid down off the counter and backed away from Clint. “No, no, no. I don’t want to hear it. There is nothing going on between the two of you that I want to hear about that isn’t official Avengers business.”

Clint cracked up, followed by Bruce and Bucky. “So us hearing about your sex life on the news is okay?” Clint asked. “But not what we get up to?”

“Well, I’m interested in _some_ people’s sex lives,” Tony said, making eye contact with Bucky for a moment, but then looked back at Clint. “But if you continue to talk about _your_ sex life, I’ll make it impossible for you to have one.”

Clint leaned forward and punched Tony in the arm. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone that the great playboy Tony Stark is a prude.”

“I’m not… That’s not… I’m not a prude!” But Clint was already halfway out of the kitchen, and he just waved his hand dismissively before he disappeared from sight.

“That does remind me,” Bruce said, “So, this _thing_ ,” he pointed at Bucky and then Tony, “Is it a secret? Because if so, it won’t be for long with the way that you two keep making googly eyes at each other.”

“I’m not making googly eyes,” Tony muttered.

Bucky laughed. “Yeah, you are. But I’m pretty sure that I am too, and I know that Steve knows what I look like when I’m interested in someone, so if he hasn’t already guessed, he’s going to.”

“Great. Does that mean I get to look forward to being threatened by Captain America?” Tony asked. “Don’t get me wrong - I’ll take it and even be polite about it, but I’d rather skip it if there’s any possible way.”

Bucky shook his head ruefully. “He’ll probably try to talk me out of it first. But then yeah, you’re going to have babysitter Rogers asking what your intentions are. He was like that when he was five feet tall and ninety pounds - getting bigger only put some oomph behind it.”

“So, wait, you dated men way back then?” Bruce asked. “I mean - wasn’t that illegal?”

Bucky sighed. “I really hate how everyone gets gay history wrong. It’s not like homosexuality was invented in the sixties, you know. Steve and I lived in Brooklyn Heights in the thirties and forties, which was the gay district of New York. Steve being interested in girls almost made him the more unusual of the two of us. And men who swung both ways weren’t unheard of.”

“Well, at least I won’t have to deal with him being homophobic,” Tony said, resigned to his fate. “I guess I can accept being asked if I have honorable intentions.”

“I’ll try to derail him,” Bucky said, “But I’ll probably fail.”

Tony finished the last bite of his pizza, and then exhaustion hit him all at once. Not unsurprising - he’d spent most of the day either analyzing data or working with Pepper’s team, and he had too much blood in his caffeine stream. He thought about having a cup of coffee, but after having gotten Bruce out of the lab, he’d be the world’s biggest hypocrite to go back himself. Besides, bed sounded pretty damn good, especially if – “Hey, Bucky?”

“Yeah?” Bucky sounded vaguely suspicious.

“I know you said nothing but kisses, but do you think that maybe we could try to just sleep together? See if that fits?”

Bucky’s mouth turned down at the corners. “It’s not safe to sleep with me, Tony. I have nightmares.”

“I’m pretty sure everyone on the team has nightmares - Bruce, buddy, back me up here.”

Bruce put his hands up in surrender. “I’m not speaking for anyone but myself. Yes, I have nightmares, but, you know, I don’t have a malfunctioning metal arm. It’s up to Bucky if that’s a risk he’s willing to take.”

Tony stuck his tongue out at Bruce. “I just figured - my nightmares are sometimes better if there’s someone in bed with me. Figured that it might help you too.”

Bucky sighed. “I haven’t slept with anyone since I got away from Hydra,” he said. “But when I was with them, I injured more than one person who tried to wake me up. And I have only the barest control over my arm right now.”

“I thought it might be worth a shot,” Tony said. “But you know, once we get your arm working right and you don’t have that to fall back on, are you going to be doing the walk of shame every night so that you don’t have to sleep with me? Because if that’s the way you say it has to be, I’ll accept it but I won’t like it.”

“How about we get to that point first,” Bucky said. “But I’ll tell you what. If you’re really interested in _just_ sleep, and if it really helps you to have someone else in the room with you, I’ll come lie down with you for a while, under the condition that we kill the arm for the night.”

“Done,” Tony said. Looking at Bruce he said, “Hate to eat and run, but I’m really interested in sleep all of a sudden.”

Bruce chuckled. “If I had someone to sleep with, I’d probably head right to bed too.”

Tony walked over to where Bucky was still sitting at the breakfast bar, eating the last bites of his pizza. “Sorry. There’s only so much of me to go around,” he said, wrapping an arm around Bucky. “And Bucky gets dibs.”

“Lucky me,” Bucky said, but it wasn’t sarcastic or silly. He honestly sounded like he meant it.

Bucky set aside his plate and stood up. Tony shifted so that his arm was around Bucky’s waist instead of his shoulders, but didn’t let go. He wanted this problem _solved_ already, so that he could see if he and Bucky would actually work as a thing.

Bruce grabbed the bowl of salad and said, “So, tomorrow morning, eight, in the lab, right?”

“Ugh. Is that what time the minions start?” Tony asked, dismayed.

“Most of them will probably be there by seven,” Bruce said with a laugh. “But I figure we should give them an hour to get in the groove before the big boss starts standing over them again.”

“Besides, Susan’s crush will slow her down if you’re there,” Tony said with a grin.

Bruce groaned. “It’s not a crush. She’s just easily impressed.”

“You keep telling yourself that if it gets you through the night,” Tony said. “But I call them like I see them.”

“Go to bed, you two,” Bruce said. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

Tony laughed, but he also turned towards the door, his stomach doing funny flops when Bucky turned with him. They bypassed the team living room, and hopped the elevator to take them to the Penthouse, where Tony’s bedroom was. As they entered the room, Bucky said, “FRIDAY?”

“Sergeant Barnes?” she said, her voice so much sweeter and less sarcastic when she wasn’t talking to Tony.

“If you think that Tony is in _any_ danger from me, you are to take whatever action you need to stop me,” Bucky said. “And that includes getting Steve.”

“Do you really think that’s necessary?” Tony asked. “We’re going to kill your arm, I’ve already got a plan to keep you from feeling trapped. It’ll be fine.”

“And you may be right,” Bucky said. “But let me do it my way, so that I don’t have to worry about killing you in my sleep, okay?”

“Fine,” Tony said. “I normally don’t sleep in anything, but would it make you feel better if I wore sweats?”

“Just keep your shorts on,” Bucky said. “No need to overheat to spare my delicate sensibilities.”

“Fair enough.”

The two of them stripped down relatively quickly - Tony to his boxer briefs, and Bucky to his boxers. Tony looked him up and down, and Bucky seemed to want to cringe. “I know - I have a lot of scars,” Bucky said, sounding apologetic.

“It’s not that,” Tony said. “You’re just… you’re gorgeous.”

Bucky looked at him as if he’d grown a second head. “I’ve seen the kind of people you used to sleep with, Tony.”

“Yeah, but they weren’t… they weren’t _real_. Not like you.”

Unbelievably, Bucky _blushed_ , his face and neck turning faintly red. “Aw, shut it,” he said.

“Why? It’s true,” Tony said, but Bucky turned his head, as if he didn’t want to meet Tony’s eyes, so he let it drop. Instead, he changed the subject. “So, I have an idea of how to do this so you don’t wake up feeling trapped.”

“That would be good, but you’re still killing the arm,” Bucky said.

“Agreed,” Tony said. He reached out slowly, and Bucky turned so that he could access the upper panel, where the kill switch was located. When he pushed the button, the arm went instantly limp, dragging Bucky’s shoulder lower with the weight. Tony ran one hand over Bucky’s shoulder, not liking how helpless it made him look. “So, here’s what we’re going to do,” he said, trying to sound cheerful and not like a sad puppy. “I’m going to lie on my back, you’re going to lie on your side with your prosthetic on the side towards the bed and your head on my shoulder.”

“I’m no dame,” Bucky said. “I don’t need to be _cuddled_.”

Tony glared at him. “Why do you think I wanted to share a bed even when we can’t have sex then?” he asked. “There’s nothing wrong with cuddling. I wouldn’t mind reversing the positions, but I’m worried that if you wake up like that, not sure where you are, you’ll feel trapped.”

Bucky took a second to visibly think it over, and then nodded reluctantly. “I guess you’re right.”

" _Thank_ you,” Tony said. He reached out and took Bucky’s flesh hand in his own. “Come on. Apparently we have to be in the lab god awful early tomorrow.”

“You know, Steve and I have usually already run and sparred by eight,” Bucky said with a laugh, but he followed Tony easily enough.

“And that’s how I know you two are sick, sick people,” Tony said. “Mornings are things that happen to other people.”

That got an honest guffaw out of Bucky, and Tony silently preened at it. They got to the bedroom, and Tony let go of Bucky to pull back the blankets and rearrange the pillows at the head of the bed.

Climbing in, he sprawled in the middle of the bed, and patted the bed next to him. Bucky looked a bit like he wanted to object again, but then he crawled up on the bed, and carefully tucked himself up against Tony’s side, his head on Tony’s shoulder. For a heartbeat, he was stiff, as if he expected Tony to say or do something, but then the tension flowed out of him like a river.

“There, that’s good, isn’t it,” Tony said.

“Yeah, I guess,” Bucky said, but his voice broke in the middle with a huge yawn, one that Tony echoed.

“Let’s just sleep,” Tony murmured. “See how it goes.”

“Yeah.” Bucky sounded halfway there already, which made Tony wonder how well he slept most nights.

“FRIDAY, kill the lights. Set the alarm for seven. And unless I’m in _immediate_ danger, let me try to handle it if Bucky has a nightmare, okay?”

“Boss - “

“Don’t argue with me,” he said, making his voice firm. “This is non-negotiable.”

“Yes, Boss,” she said, sounding resigned.

She really had spent too much time in JARVIS’s systems.

The lights in the room dimmed, leaving just enough that if Tony needed to get up to go to the bathroom he wouldn’t trip, and Tony let himself settle into the bed and the comforting weight on his arm. He’d always liked it when Pepper slept like this, and he could easily see himself becoming attached to Bucky. He inhaled deeply, enjoying Bucky’s scent - machine oil from the arm and clean male sweat. His head was a comforting weight on Tony’s shoulder. He was pretty sure that getting to sleep was not going to be difficult at all. Hopefully they’d stay that way.

That assumed that Rogers didn’t kill him when he found out.

Mentally shrugging, he consigned that to the list of tomorrow’s problems, and closed his eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They have a good night, and that stresses Bucky out. Then there's a conversation with Steve...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> StarkBucks B3 Running away

He was a little surprised that it was the alarm that woke him in the morning. Bucky hadn’t moved all night, and Tony could barely feel his fingers, but there hadn’t been any nightmares on either of their parts. “Bucky,” he said, pitching his voice a little louder than the soft music that had pulled him from sleep.

“Wha - “ Bucky shot up, looking around the room in confusion.

“It’s okay,” Tony said. “You’re safe. You’re in bed with me, remember?”

“Tony?” Bucky said, sounding a little less confused. “Did we… did we actually sleep through the night?”

“We did,” Tony said. “Not a nightmare to be seen for either of us.”

“Okay…” Bucky looked a little more alert. He tried to turn, but was dragged down by his prosthetic, which was still off. “Could you?” he asked, twisting so that it was turned towards Tony.

“Sure,” Tony said. He flipped up the access panel and pushed the kill switch button, restoring power to the arm.

There was a moment of stillness as the arm booted up, and then Bucky twitched violently. “Fuck!” he exclaimed.

“What?” Tony asked. “What happened?”

“It just shocked the hell out of me,” Bucky said.

“Well, that’s not good,” Tony said. His hand hovered over the access. “Should I kill it again?”

“Give it a minute,” Bucky said. “Let’s see if it happens again.”

“Makes sense,” Tony said, even if he didn’t like risking Bucky being hurt when he didn’t have to be. They sat in silence for a long moment, and when there wasn’t a second shock, both of them started to breathe. Only then did Tony realize that both of them had been actually holding their breath in anticipation.

“What time is it?” Bucky asked.

Tony didn’t want to pretend that there was nothing wrong, but that was apparently Bucky’s choice right now. So he simply said, “A few minutes past seven. I figured you’d need to go back to your apartment and get some clothes before we spend the day in the lab.”

“Actually,” Bucky said, his voice sounding small, “I’m not going to the lab today.”

Tony blinked. “You’re not?” he asked. “Why not?”

“Because I’m just getting in the way and slowing you down,” Bucky said. “You don’t actually need me or my arm there until you have something to try, and in the meantime, you’d work faster if it was just you and Bruce.”

“That’s bullshit,” Tony said bluntly. “You may not be a physicist or an engineer, but you’re definitely helpful. And things will go faster if you’re right there for us to compare what we’re finding with what’s in your arm. So what is this really about?”

Bucky wouldn’t meet his eyes, which told Tony more about Bucky’s state of mind than anything else. “If you find something that you need to test, I’ll come down.”

“Or you could be right there from the start.” Tony thought for a moment. “This isn’t because you _didn’t_ have any nightmares last night, is it? You’re not getting cold feet, are you?”

Bucky’s eyes darted towards Tony’s face and then away, which confirmed Tony’s suspicions. “Did you notice that I didn’t have any nightmares either?” Tony asked. “It was good for _both of us_. I don’t know why a good night’s sleep is a bad thing, and frankly, it doesn’t matter. I need you in the lab more than you need to go hide in your room and pretend that you aren’t rested for once.”

“I don’t want you to feel like you have to support me,” Bucky said. “I’m a grown man and can take care of myself.”

“First of all, I don’t,” Tony said. “Second of all, even if I _did_ , which I _don’t_ , it’s your best friend who keeps reminding us all that we’re a team. That right there would be a good reason for me to help you. The fact that apparently you want into my pants and I want you to get there is just a bonus.”

Bucky opened his mouth, as if he was going to continue to argue, so Tony just bulldozed right over him. “Besides, I _do_ need you in the lab. I need to test what the effect was of having your arm off overnight – if it slowed or accelerated the rate at which the arm is breaking down.”

Clamping his mouth shut, Bucky gave him a disgruntled look, as if Tony had given him an argument that he couldn’t refute. Which was true, even if Tony had to say it himself. And while Tony understood the desire to hide from something that he didn’t trust and didn’t understand, he was going to do his damnedest to prevent it.

That meant preventing Bucky from going to his apartment, apparently, so Tony said, “Go on, grab a shower. I’m sure I have some sweats or something to fit you.”

“I can do that in my apartment,” Bucky said, but he sounded unsure, like he just wanted to be persuaded.

Tony was used to bulldozing over people to get his way, and this was no different. “We’ve got – “ he looked at the clock – “Forty-five minutes till we’re due in the lab. If you go to your apartment, you’re going to waste time. Just hop in the shower, and I’ll be in as soon as I get those sweats for you.”

“I’m still not having sex with you,” Bucky said, and on this his voice was firm.

“Yeah, yeah,” Tony said. “I didn’t say anything about sex. I said _shower_. I’m going to scrub your back, you’re going to scrub mine, we’re both going to get dressed, and then we’re going to the team kitchen to get breakfast.”

Bucky looked at him suspiciously, but he also started moving towards the bathroom, so Tony decided to count that a win. He went to the walk-in closet and looked for the largest sweats he owned. They’d still probably be indecently tight, but at least they wouldn’t split.

Grabbing clothes for himself and briefs for both of them, he went into the bathroom, which was full of steamy air, and said, “I’m here,” in an effort not to startle Bucky.

“Get in here and show me how these damn controls work,” Bucky said.

Tony laughed and climbed into the shower. He really wanted to take a good look at everything that Bucky kept hidden. Unfortunately, Bucky had obviously figured out how to turn the water on, but he was getting hit with water from just about every angle. Tony laughed again and pressed his hand against the wall of the shower, bringing up the computer controls. While he reprogramed it so that the water was just falling from the ceiling, he said, “FRIDAY, grant Bucky Barnes control in here, so he doesn’t get drowned if he showers without me.”

“Yes, Boss. Sergeant Barnes, if you would press your hand against the wall, please.”  
Bucky did as instructed, placing his flesh hand against the wall. Lights flashed, and FRIDAY said, “Prints recognized.”

“There,” Tony said. “No more nearly drowning in my shower.”

“Of course, we could just solve the problem by showering in my apartment,” Bucky said.

Tony didn’t say anything for a moment, and then forced the words out. “I didn’t know if you wanted me there. It’s the only place you have to yourself.”

Bucky sighed and slapped Tony on the back of the head gently. “I want to do all sorts of things to you, and you think I’m going to draw the line on having you in my apartment? You’re a dope.”

The grin that was spreading across Tony’s face nearly split it in half. “So, you still want to do those things, do you?”

Bucky gave him a lingering look that traveled from Tony’s feet to his face. By the time he was finished, Tony felt as if he’d been examined and deemed worthy. He didn’t even try to camouflage his return look that lingered on Bucky’s cock. Even soft, it was a good size, and Tony couldn’t wait to see if he was a grower or a shower. Before he could make a move in that direction, though, Bucky said, “Yes. But right now, you mentioned something about scrubbing each other’s backs. So get busy scrubbing.”

Tony grabbed a washcloth and some shower gel, lathering it up and carefully washing Bucky’s back, especially around the scar tissue that was prominent around the fusion point between arm and shoulder. “How much sensation do you have here?” he asked, pausing over some of the worst of the scarring.

“Enough to know that you’re touching it. It doesn’t hurt or anything,” Bucky said. “Doesn’t particularly do anything for me either.”

“Hmmm…” Tony hummed. “I’m going to have to look at Bruce’s analysis of where the nerve conduction lines are connected.”

“Aw, geeze,” Bucky said. “We’re in the fucking shower and you’re thinking about the engineering on my arm _now_? Can we just take a shower and get something to eat before we start worrying about it? I don’t want to think about it for a little while. ”

Tony pushed and pulled on Bucky until he turned to face Tony. Very carefully, Tony didn’t look down, because he didn’t know if it would be worse to know that Bucky was hard, or to know that he _wasn’t_. “Look, I know this isn’t fun for you,” he said. “But you’re the one who flirted with me, knowing that I’m like a dog with a bone. I want to see if we can make this work, and for that we need to make your arm functional. So forgive me if I’m super focused. I have reason to be.”

Bucky sighed, and then leaned forward, brushing a kiss over Tony’s mouth. “I know you’re trying to help,” Bucky said. “Trust me, I do. But right now you have a whole team working on fixing my problem instead of doing their actual jobs, and that annoys me.”

Tony returned the kiss. “Okay, so let’s get this solved, so that everyone can go back to work and you and I can get laid.”

Shifting so that his forehead against Tony’s shoulder, Bucky sighed. “If only it was that simple.”

“It is that simple,” Tony said. “We fix the problem, we fix your arm, _boom_ , sex for both of us.”

Bucky chuckled. “Fine. Let me scrub your back then.”

Tony pressed a kiss to Bucky’s head, and then backed up a step, breaking contact and turning around. The gentle touch of a washcloth to his back felt amazing, much better than he’d expected, but all he could think was how badly he wanted to be touched.

Once Bucky was done scrubbing his back, they both turned their attention to getting everything else clean, and Tony was good, but not that good, and he couldn’t help taking another look at Bucky’s cock. It was half hard, and Tony wanted to get his mouth on it like he didn’t know it was possible to want something. But that would be foolhardy and foolish and other fool words. Besides, he knew that Bucky wouldn’t let him, even though he was willing to take the risk.

So Tony bit his tongue and didn’t say anything, even when Bucky shot him a knowing glance. Once they were both clean, Tony turned off the water, and they dried off and put on the clothes that Tony had brought into the bathroom He’d been right about the size of his sweats on Bucky - they were positively indecent, and Bucky tugged at the crotch, trying to hide his cock better.

“Maybe I should go back to my room and get some of my clothes,” Bucky said. “I’m pretty sure that sweats shouldn’t be this tight.”

“But I like the view,” Tony said. “I mean, you don’t have to keep them on if you don’t want to, but I really like seeing you in my clothes.”

Bucky raised an eyebrow at him, but didn’t argue, and didn’t bring up going back to his room again.

Tony thought about cooking in his kitchen again, but instead he said, “FRIDAY, is there anyone in the communal kitchen?” It was about seven thirty, there should be -

“Captain Rogers, Thor, Doctor Banner, Agent Romanov, and Agent Barton are all in the kitchen,” FRIDAY answered.

“Up to facing the crowd?” Tony asked. “You know we’re going to have to face Steve eventually.”

“I keep telling you that Steve won’t be a problem,” Bucky said. “But sure, why the hell not. Banner already knows since you can’t keep your hands to yourself. Might as well let everyone else know all at once.”

Tony frowned. “Do you not want them to know?” he asked. “I mean, I didn’t think you wanted to keep this a secret, but we can try if you want.”

“Nah,” Bucky said. “We live with spies. Even if I _wanted_ to keep it a secret, it wouldn’t happen, so might as well let the cat out of the bag. What’s the saying? Go big or go home?”

“Yeah, that’s the saying,” Tony said, a little relieved that Bucky was okay with people knowing. “Let’s go.”

They took the elevator down to the communal floor, and walked into the kitchen. For a moment no one noticed their entrance, and then Clint whooped, only to get thumped on the back by Natasha. “You owe me five dollars,” he said to her.

“Do I even want to know what you were betting on?” Tony asked, going to the cabinet where they kept the cereal.

“That you two would eventually get a clue,” Clint said. “And since Bucky’s standing here wearing pants two sizes too small, I am choosing to assume that that has happened.”

Tony and Bucky’s eyes met. For a moment, Tony wasn’t sure how to react, but then it was taken out of his hands by Bucky coming over and pulling him into a kiss.

By Tony’s standards, it was still pretty chaste, but still, it was a kiss in front of most of the team, and that meant that Bucky was serious about not hiding this. So what could Tony do but return the kiss with interest? He licked along the seam of Bucky’s lips, asking politely to be let in, and when Bucky opened his mouth, he let his tongue tangle with Bucky’s.

He only broke the kiss when Clint’s cheering broke his concentration. With one last slow peck, he pulled back, opening his eyes to see that Bucky had a soft smile on his face. Tony could tell that there was one to match on his own.

There was a solid whapping noise, followed by Clint saying, “Ow,” which caused both of them to turn and look at the rest of the room. Natasha had apparently hit Clint in the head, but she was smiling at them - a fact that Tony found more than a little disconcerting. He wasn’t used to Natasha looking pleased when she was around him.

Bruce was hiding his grin behind his hand, but Tony could tell that he was laughing at them. Tony found that he didn’t mind. Bruce was never cruel with his teasing, not the way that Tony himself could be when he wasn’t careful. And besides, this way the pressure was off of him to keep what was happening a secret.

Then Tony made the mistake of glancing at Steve, and yeah, he sometimes hated when he was right. Steve was glaring hard enough to melt a hole in Tony’s suit. Tony opened his mouth to diffuse the situation, but Bucky beat him to it.

“You got a problem, Steve?” Bucky asked, not belligerently but not like he was planning to back down either.

“Do you know what you’re getting into?” Steve asked, but it wasn’t aimed at Bucky. No, Steve was looking at _Tony_.

“Hopefully a great time?” Tony said with a shit eating grin.

“Bucky isn’t always the most…” Steve trailed off, his eyes darting to Bucky and back to Tony.

“The most, what?” Bucky demanded. “This I’ve got to hear. He knows about my nightmares, knows about seventy years of brainwashing, knows all my dirty secrets. So what is it that you think he should know?”

Steve sighed and rubbed a hand over his eyes. When he dropped it, he looked at Bucky square on. “Sorry, Bucky. I know you have the right to make your own choices, but all I can think is that time with the dock worker you had a crush on.”

“Aw, geeze,” Bucky said. “That, _again_? It was more than seventy years ago and in a completely different time and place. And in case you didn’t notice, Tony sure seems like he’s reciprocating. And he’s not likely to take a swing at me for getting fresh.”

Tony was vaguely aware that Natasha, Bruce, and Clint were leaving the room. On the one hand, he didn’t particularly want any witnesses for this conversation. On the other, they’d at least keep Steve from killing Tony.

“I _know_ that.” Steve sounded annoyed, but that wasn’t much different from how he usually sounded when Tony was involved. “But… how long has this been going on, anyway?”

“Which part? The part where I want to get into Tony’s pants? The kissing part? Or the part where I slept in the same bed with him last night and didn’t have any nightmares?”

“No nightmares at all?” Steve certainly sounded pleased at that piece of information.

“Not a one - for _either_ of us,” Bucky said. “And all we did was sleep. I won’t do anything else until my arm is working. Too dangerous.”

“At least you’re thinking with your big head,” Steve said. Then he turned his attention to Tony, and Tony felt pinned to the floor. “Can I say the same about you? Is this why you’re putting so much effort into fixing Bucky’s arm?”

Tony sighed. “I’ve already had this conversation with Bucky, before there was anything for you to worry about, mother hen. I’m trying to fix Bucky’s arm because shoddy workmanship offends me, and because he should have a working prosthetic. There was no ulterior motive - I didn’t even realize what he was interested until he told me outright.”

“Okay, then,” Steve said. “I guess you two aren’t being _completely_ stupid.”

“Thanks, _mom_ ,” Bucky said. “I know I looked after you years ago, but I learned when to let you take your lumps. Do you think you could do the same for me?”

“I just don’t want you to take any lumps at all,” Steve said.

“In that, I’m one hundred percent on your side,” Tony said, figuring it couldn’t hurt. From the amused look on Bucky’s face, he probably thought that Tony was just siding with Steve so that Steve would back down. But he really didn’t like the thought of Bucky being hurt - that wasn’t a lie.

“Look, Steve,” Tony said. “We’re both grown men, and Bucky’s in his right mind - he’s even got a psychiatrist who would say the same thing. You know that if Bucky was interested in someone else, you wouldn’t have a problem with it.”

“But he’s not interested in someone else, he’s interested in you - and you can’t even remember to feed yourself half the time.” Steve sighed. “Never mind. You’re right, you’re both grown men. And if Bucky made it through the night without a nightmare, you’re better for him than I am, apparently. I promise not to say anything else.”

“ _Thank_ you,” Bucky said sarcastically. “Look, you know I trust your judgment most of the time, but when it comes to who you think I should date you and I have never agreed. Can you just let me have this for once?”

“I promised, didn’t I?” Steve said. Then he held his hand out to Tony. “Shake on it.”

Halfway expecting to have his hand crushed, Tony took Steve’s hand gingerly. But all Steve did was shake his hand and then say, “I reserve the right to say ‘I told you so’ if this blows up in your faces.”

“Fair enough,” Bucky said. Tony debated arguing, but in the end he just shrugged. He was going to do his best to keep that from happening.

Just then the kitchen door banged open. “You guys done arguing yet?” Clint demanded. “Cause if not, stuff a sock in it. We just heard from Phil.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things didn't go quite as smoothly for Coulson and his team, and now there's a prisoner to interrogate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starkbucks I2 Reunion

Like a switch had been thrown, Steve was every inch of Captain America. “Is there a problem?”

“They just got attacked by Hydra at the Kentucky base,” Clint said. “With Hill’s teams, they managed to incapacitate or kill all of the attackers, no injured on our side. More importantly, he thinks he has one of the scientists who worked on Bucky’s arm.”

“Let’s get suited up,” Steve said, reaching for the communicator on the table.

“No need,” Clint said. “They’d already stripped the place bare and are already in the air. They should be here in about an hour.”

“I don’t want Hydra in the tower, no matter how well secured they are,” Tony said flatly. “There’s too much tech floating around here, and I’m not risking it getting into their hands again.”

“Agreed,” Steve said. “Clint, what happened to the old SHIELD building downtown?”

“It’s occupied by people that Hill and Coulson vetted, and they’re in charge of trying to rebuild. Slow going.” Clint looked at him sharply. “You want to see if we can use their holding cells?”

“Yes,” Steve said at the same time as Tony.

Tony continued, “Do we know how many prisoners Coulson’s bringing with him?”

“Three, but only one seems to have a clue based on what Coulson said. The other two were just muscle. Obviously not true believers, though, or they’d have offed themselves.”

“True,” Steve said. “Okay, those two go to the holding cells in the headquarters. The scientist goes to one of the interview rooms, but under restraints. Have a doctor check him for a false tooth before we start - I don’t want to lose him before we can try to get information out of him.”

“Got it,” Clint said, and disappeared through the door, obviously going to radio Coulson Steve’s instructions.

The Captain America persona dropped away, leaving Steve in his place, and he said, “Bucky? I trust you. I just want what’s best for you. If that’s Tony, then I’m happy for you, okay?”

“Okay,” Bucky said.

They gave each other a brief hug, and Tony had to smile. He could admit that he preferred it when Steve and Bucky were getting along. It meant everyone was much happier.

Then Steve looked at Tony and pointed from his eyes to Tony. “I’m always watching you,” he said. “Just remember that.”

“And now I’ll never sleep again,” Tony said.

“Aw, come on,” Bucky said. “I am a grown man, Steve. Let it go already.”

Steve huffed, but nodded, and Tony let the muscles in his back relax a little. He thought that that could have gone better, but it also could have gone worse, and he was going to take his victories where he could get them.

“So the bus will be here shortly. Let’s get over to the old headquarters and get ready to meet our guests.”

“Bucky, I want you to sit this one out,” Steve said, his voice sounding worried and more than a little cautious. Tony couldn’t blame him - Bucky always got mad when Steve tried to make him sit out fights with Hydra. “This isn’t a battle, and there’s no point in putting you in the same room with this scientist.”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Unless you plan to tie me up, I’m going. I promise not to kill the bastard - not until we figure out what he knows, anyway.”

“You know you can’t actually kill him, right?” Steve said. “If this is something I seriously have to worry about, then I will find a way to secure you here, friend or not.”

“I think you should let him kill him when we’re done,” Tony said. “I know you don’t like killing people in cold blood, but I think Bucky’s more than earned a right to revenge.”

“Thanks, Tony,” Bucky said, squeezing Tony’s shoulder gently. “But I guess Steve is right. I’ve come in from the cold and that means I need to follow the rules, even when I don’t like them. But I want to see who this scientist is and make him look at me and know that Hydra didn’t win - I’m not broken anymore.”

“You never were,” Steve said stoutly. “Just a little lost.”

Bucky’s face softened a little, and that right there was one of the reasons that Tony had thought that they had been together. Bucky didn’t look at _anyone_ like that except Steve.

But then Bucky broke the moment, and leaned into Tony’s space, pressing a kiss to his lips. “Let’s go figure out what we can learn from this bastard, right?”

“You got it,” Tony said, and the three of them split up to get ready.

Tony went back to the workshop to check on the team's progress quickly. They were still sorting paper, but the pile of stuff that hadn't been touched had been reduced greatly. Susan seemed a little disappointed that Bruce wasn't with him, but she was too much of a professional to say so, just going over all of the information they'd found so far. Some of it was interesting, but none of it gave any more insight into the shorts in Bucky's arm. 

Once done, he turned his attention to getting the most recent version of the suit. The mark fifty was lightweight, like the suitcase suit, but made of a harder alloy, and so more difficult to destroy. It also built up to something bigger and more intimidating than the previous incarnations of the suitcase suit.

There was no need to take the quinjet for the fifteen blocks to the old SHIELD building. Instead, they assembled back at the loading dock and climbed into what amounted to a large, plush, cargo van. Tony couldn’t help wincing every time they used it - it was so pedestrian - but it got the Avengers where they needed to go without them being mobbed or using overkill for equipment.

With middle of the day traffic, it took them a bit over a half hour to get to the building, and in the back of the van the team used the time to discuss tactics. It was decided that once the two hired muscle were cleared by medical, Natasha and Clint would question them, one at a time, just to make sure that they weren’t more than they seemed. Assuming that was the case, they would be handed over to the FBI for processing and trials as terrorists.

Steve and Tony were going to question the scientist, at least at first. If they couldn’t get anywhere, then, and only then, was Bucky going to come in. Having him do that was risky - on the one hand, a lot of the Hydra scientists couldn’t resist bragging, and having the “asset” in front of him might get him talking. On the other hand, Bucky had killed as many of the scientists as he could get his hands on before he’d come in from the cold, and bringing him into the interrogation might cause the scientist to clam up in fear. They were going to have to play it by ear.

The van pulled up to the underground loading dock, and they offloaded quickly enough. They were met inside by Coulson and the members of his team, who looked tired and scraped up, but all whole. They went to one of the conference rooms for a quick debrief.

No one on the team said anything about the fact that Clint was sitting next to Coulson, practically pushing Skye out of the way to take her place. Nor was anything said about the way that their hands were next to each other on the conference table, only the tiniest amount of space separating them. They were both professionals, and they both knew the risks of the job, Tony knew, but he could only guess on how hard it was for them to be separated so much of the time, and risk the other dying when far away.

“Let’s get this over with,” Steve said, taking a seat at the head of the table. “What happened?”

“We’d recovered almost everything you had left behind,” Coulson said. “Simmons discovered that there was another room behind the computers - “

“Yes, it was most interesting,” she interrupted. “At a casual glance it appears to just be the antechamber and the main room, but given the amount of space under the barn and the sensors we were using, there was definitely another room there. It was just a matter of getting it open without doing any damage, which we accomplished by - “

“We don’t need to know how you got in,” Clint said, cutting her off. Tony silently gave thanks, because once Simmons got going it took forever to stop her. “Did you find anything interesting?”

Skye said, “Yeah. There were a ton more drives back there, in a bunch of different technologies. Looks like this particular base had been in use for a while. There were even tape drives back there. I don’t know how we’re going to be able to read those.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Tony said. “I’ve got my ways of hacking old tech.”

“Well, yeah, you’re the old guy,” Skye said, and then she blushed. “I meant the old tech guy! I mean, you know things about old tech…” she sputtered to halt when Tony laughed.

“I’m more than an old tech guy,” he said, “But I am old enough to be your father, so we’re just going to let this whole conversation go, and move on. What else did you find?”

“A box of metal pieces,” Fitz said. “Coulson had said that there was something about a strange metal being used in Sergeant Barnes’ arm, so we grabbed them, in case they were somehow related. And there was a _lot_ of paper files. Got all them too.”

“We were just loading the last of it when Hydra attacked,” Coulson picked up the narrative. “Either they weren’t _that_ concerned about what information we could find, or we’ve really decimated their ranks, because there were only about twenty of them. Most of them we had to kill or they killed themselves before we could secure them, but we managed to knock out two of the muscle - they’re downstairs. The doctor has already evaluated both of them, and the scientist, and removed the poisoned tooth they each had. As soon as we were sure there were no more Hydra waiting to attack, we loaded them up and here we are.”

“Was the scientist unconscious?” Steve asked.

“No, but when we’d taken out all of the muscle, he surrendered easily enough. I don’t think he’s a true believer,” Coulson said. “He knew that he’d been taken by SHIELD, but I don’t know that he knows we’ve got the Wint- Sergeant Barnes with us.”

“Hydra knows,” Bucky said from where he was sitting between Tony and Steve. “There is absolutely no chance that they don’t know that I’m with the Avengers. I haven’t exactly been subtle when we’ve been out on missions.”

“True,” Steve said. “And the giant metal arm kind of gives it away, I guess.”

Bucky and Tony both snorted at that. “You could say that,” Bucky said. “I should probably do something to make it less obvious, but I’m kinda used to it.”

Tony grinned and poked Bucky in the side. “We’ll come up with some sort of masking tech for when you need it. Leave it alone otherwise. How does that sound?”

Bucky grinned. “Sounds great. But let’s get the damn thing working first.”

“Agreed,” Steve said. “Bruce - “

“I’m going to collect the box of metal pieces and see what I can figure out,” Bruce said. “Not like I’d be a lot of help in the interrogations anyway.”

“Thanks, Bruce,” Tony said. “Why don’t you have the driver take you and them back to the Tower? The equipment is all there.”

“Are you sure that you don’t think you’ll need me here?” Bruce asked.

“I’m sure,” Steve said. “Your time would definitely be better spent trying to figure out what those damn things are. Take Fitz and Simmons with you. Also call Hill and have her arrange for a courier to get the rest of the files off the bus and over to the Tower.” Steve turned to look at Coulson and May. “I would appreciate it if you two would watch us questioning the scientist. You’ve both been doing this longer than we have, and you might catch something we miss.”

“You got it, Captain,” Coulson said.

“Be careful with him,” May said. “He’s… slimey. Like a used car salesman. Even in the few words that we exchanged on the Bus, he seemed like he was going to be hard to pin down.”

“I can get him to talk,” Bucky said, his voice hard. “Doesn’t matter how slimey he is. I can do it.”

“That’s a last resort,” Steve said before Tony could say it. “I know you have reason to hate every single one of these guys, and he’s going to pay for what he’s done, but what makes us the good guys is that we have lines we don’t cross.”

“That’s what makes _you_ a good guy,” Bucky said, but he sat back in his chair when Tony placed his hand on Bucky’s arm and gave a quick squeeze.

“These days, you’re a good guy too,” Tony said. “They tried to make you something else. They failed. Remember that.”

Bucky’s arm relaxed under Tony’s touch, and he sat back in his chair. “Fine,” he said. “But I reserve the right to kick him in the teeth if he doesn’t give us the information we need.”

Tony wanted to agree with Bucky so much it hurt, but he wasn’t in charge here - that dubious honor fell to either Steve or Coulson, so he clenched his jaw and didn’t say anything. He turned to face Steve, willing him to agree, because Bucky deserved it.

Steve looked torn. Bucky was his best friend, and Tony knew that. But the scientist was in custody, and Tony was aware that Steve had never been able to put down someone who was technically helpless. Of course, Hydra would never have been able to get as far as they did without that fact - because if Zola had been killed after rolling over on Red Skull, he would never have been in a position to infiltrate SHIELD. Tony wondered if that fact was the reason that Steve didn’t immediately refuse to allow Bucky his revenge.

Instead of either agreeing or disagreeing, Steve stood up and said, “Let’s see what we can get without it.” When Bucky looked like he was going to argue, Steve shook his head. “I can’t make that promise, Buck,” he said, but he sounded genuinely regretful. “Hopefully it won’t come to that anyway.”

The five of them left the conference room and went to where Coulson’s team had secured the scientist. It was a room that from the inside didn’t look like an interrogation room, Tony knew. There was no one-way glass, and the cameras that fed the cameras to the screens in the next room over were tiny - impossible to spot if you didn’t know exactly what you were looking for. They crowded into that room first, and stood in front of the screen to watch for a moment.

Well, Steve, Coulson, and May were studying the scientist. _Tony_ was watching Bucky, who took one look at the screen and went ghastly pale. “Whoa,” Tony said, trying to catch Bucky’s arm, because he looked like he was ready to pass out. “Cap!”

Steve turned and took the situation in quickly, looping his arm around Bucky’s waist and helping him to a chair. “Buck, what is it?” he asked.

“Him. I _know_ him,” Bucky said, his voice more than a little shaky. “That’s Sharrow. He… I didn’t see him the last time I was brought out of the ice, so I didn’t think about him. I don’t think I’ve seen him since some time in the, hmm, the late nineties, I think?”

“Was he someone who worked on your arm?” Coulson asked.

“Among other things,” Bucky said with a watery sounding chuckle. “He did… they said they were tests. Sounds so innocent. ‘Soldier, we’re going to test your reflexes,’ he’d say. And then he would… do things. Hit me, or inject me, or cut me.” Bucky swallowed as if he was trying not to throw up. “In the time that I was the asset, I worked with many scientists. None of them were nice - to most of them I was a tool or an intelligent animal. But he was one of the ones that was actively _cruel_. And it was obvious that he _enjoyed_ it.”

Bucky still looked as if he was going to pass out any moment, and all Tony could do was squeeze his arm, and look at Steve helplessly as if he could _fix_ this.

“You’re not going in there,” Steve said firmly. “You can stay here with Phil and May and watch, but you’re not going in there where he can go after you.”

That seemed to give Bucky some of his courage back, and Tony wondered for a second if he’d always been a contrary bastard. “I’m going in there,” he said. “You can’t stop me. I just needed… I needed you to know. But he’s not going to talk for posturing and harsh words. He’s going to need to believe that someone is really willing to actually hurt him, and for that you’re going to need me.”

“Trust me,” Tony said. “I’m more than willing to go in there and hurt him. We don’t need you for that.”

Bucky’s eyes met Tony’s. “I _need_ to go in there, Tony,” he said. “Don’t try to stop me.”

Tony wanted to argue. Tony wanted _Steve_ to argue and force the point, but instead, all Steve did was say, “If you can’t handle it, you leave. You don’t touch him at all.”

“If that’s the way you insist we play this, fine,” Bucky said. “Just… just don’t leave me out of it.”

“I won’t, Bucky,” Steve said, and if Steve said it, then Tony _couldn’t_ argue, no matter how much he wanted to.

So the three of them went out to the hallway, leaving Coulson and May to watch through the screen. They paused in the hallway, letting Bucky take a few deep breaths, and then they opened the door to the room where Sharrow was seated at the table, with an amiable smile on his face.

“Captain America _and_ Iron Man,” he said as they entered the room. “How delightful.” And then Bucky entered behind them, and Sharrow blinked. “And the Soldier.” He blinked again, and then turned his attention back to Steve. “You are very trusting, apparently. To let such a dangerous animal at your back. Or maybe he serves a different master now?”

“He doesn’t serve anyone but himself,” Steve said. “You and your people tried to make him mindless, a weapon, and you failed.”

“There’s a string of assassinations and terroristic acts that would argue that point with you,” Sharrow said. “I’d say that the Russians, and then Hydra were _most_ successful. When we retake him, it will be easy enough to reclaim him for our uses.”

“That won’t happen,” Tony said, planting his fists on the edge of the table and leaning forward. “Sergeant Barnes goes where he wants, and I guarantee that isn’t back to what’s left of Hydra. You’d think you would have learned your lesson about that after the way he decimated you before coming in from the cold.”

“A minor setback,” Sharrow said, waving a hand airily. “Nothing that a few days of reprogramming wouldn’t fix. Right, Soldier?”

Tony glanced back over his shoulder to look at Bucky, who was staring fixedly at Sharrow’s hands. “You know, you looked much more dangerous when I was tied down,” Bucky said. “Somehow, when the positions are reversed, it’s not anywhere near as scary.”

Sharrow’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t do anything as dramatic as pull at the cuffs binding him to the table. Instead, he visibly turned his attention away to Bucky. “What do you want from me, _Captain_?” he spat. “Obviously you want something or I’d be in a cell already, if not dead from your pet there.”

“Sergeant Barnes is no pet,” Tony snarled out before he could bite it back. “No matter how good a job you think you did, you didn’t succeed, since he broke your programming all on his own. And did a fair amount of damage to your organization before he finished, if I’m not mistaken.”

“Iron Man,” Steve said, his voice a warning. Tony didn’t want to back down and give in, but he recognized that when it came to the Avengers, one man was in charge and that wasn’t Tony. So he stepped back, making it obvious that he was yielding the floor to Steve.

“You’re here because you’re going to tell us everything you know about Sergeant Barnes’ arm,” Steve said, his voice even, pleasant. “You’re going to do this because otherwise Iron Man and I are going to step outside the room and leave you alone with Sergeant Barnes, and you know how well the last few Hydra fared in that situation.”

“You’re bluffing,” Sharrow said. “Your own morals won’t let injury come to a prisoner.” But he was paler than he’d been a moment ago, and there was sweat beading on his brow.

“You know, used to be that you’d have been right,” Steve said in that same pleasant tone. “That was before I found out that Hydra had taken and tortured my best friend for seventy years. That kind of knowledge changes a man, makes him rethink what he believes about what certain other people deserve.”

Sharrow swallowed, his throat making a clicking noise. Bucky didn’t say anything, but he moved forward so that he was standing next to Steve, folding his arms in front of his chest.

For a long moment, there was silence, broken only by the sound of Sharrow panting slightly, as if he was having trouble getting enough air. Tony noticed that his mouth was moving, and he wondered if Sharrow was going after the hollow tooth that the dentist had already removed. Finally, Sharrow squared his shoulders and said, “I’m not going to tell you anything.”

Steve turned to look at Bucky and raised a single eyebrow, as if in question. Bucky smiled, and suddenly Tony was very glad that he was on their side, because if he’d been in Sharrow’s place he was pretty sure he would have been wetting himself. “You know, the only reason you’re worth anything is because the arm is malfunctioning,” he said, and his voice was completely cold, emotionless. “The most terrifying part is that the pressure sensor is not working, and I won’t risk injuring my teammates. But I wonder how much pressure I could exert without realizing it?”

He took one more step forward, so that his thighs were pressed against the table, and leaned forward, taking Sharrow’s right hand in his left. “Shall we _test_ that, Doctor?”

“Stop him,” Sharrow demanded, his eyes darting from Bucky to Steve to Tony. “You can’t let him do this.”

“All I see is him testing the functioning of the prosthetic that your people designed,” Steve said. “Since you did such a good job at it, I see no reason not to allow it.” Steve turned so his back was to the table and looked at Tony. “Iron Man?”

Tony had to cough a little, because praise - even fake praise - of such a piece of shit engineering was hard to do, but he finally forced out, “Yeah, great engineering. I don’t see a problem here at all.” And he too turned his back.

“No, don’t!” Sharrow said, his voice spiraling up, and then there was a crunching noise. Tony had been expecting a scream, so the lack of one caused him to turn around, to see that Bucky had released Sharrow’s hand and gripped the edge of the table instead, crushing it to powder. “Thankfully for you,” he said, “I remember that I’m one of the good guys now. Don’t give me a reason to forget it.”

Sharrow spit a curse in German, but Bucky lifted his prosthetic arm, and he folded like a house of cards. “Fine. It’s the faskyx,” he said. “We discovered it at a meteor site in Taymyrsky in the fifties. The USSR scientists that worked with it tested it in various applications and discovered that it conducted nerve impulses like nothing they’d ever seen before. They were looking into using it for veterans of the war, but there wasn’t much, just a few pounds, and they couldn’t figure out how to synthesize more of it. And then the government got wind of what it could do, and they confiscated the whole supply, putting it to much better use than helping a few cripples walk.”

“And then Hydra got ahold of the Winter Soldier,” Steve said. “When was that?”

Tony knew that this was a test - they had Hydra’s records of taking possession of Bucky in the mid-sixties. Apparently either Sharrow figured it for a test or he really was scared to death to lie, because that’s what he said. “Hydra got him in sixty-four or sixty-five. I was only a child then, so I don’t know exactly,” he said. “We tried to swap out some of the pieces over time, but it always caused the arm to malfunction, and we couldn’t come up with any substitutes, which was too bad. It could have been useful for other things.”

Sharrow seemed to calm for a moment, and drawing himself as well as he could considering he was shackled to the table, he said, “Not that the asset ever appreciated what we did for him. We gave him the best in training, to hone his reflexes and his skills, did procedures to make him better, make him faster. Others, loyal to Hydra, begged for the privilege, but him, _him_ we had to force to do what was best.”

“You tortured him,” Steve roared, slamming his fist into the already broken table. “You treated him worse than an animal, and you expect him to be grateful for the ‘privilege’? Be very thankful that I consider myself a good man, Sharrow, or I’d kill you myself.”

In response to Steve’s outburst, Sharrow pulled back as far as the cuff on the table would let him. Sweat dotted his forehead and he licked his lips as if his mouth was dry. “I was only following - “

“Orders? That’s what you were going to say, isn’t it?” Steve demanded, leaning forward, getting right up into Sharrow’s face. “I remember another time men were just following orders.”

Tony took a step closer to him and placed a calming hand on Steve’s arm. “Captain, this isn’t helpful,” he forced himself to say, though honestly, if Steve and Bucky wanted to take turns painting the walls with Sharrow’s blood after he had the information he needed, he wouldn’t question them in the slightest.

“You’re right, Iron Man,” Steve spit out, straightening and turning his back on Sharrow again. “Ask what you need to know.”

“So, is the total amount of the faskyx present in Sergeant Barnes’ arm?” Tony asked. “Or is there more on file somewhere?”

“All of the metal that Hydra has is either in the prosthetic, or in a small amount of alloy that was left over from assembling it. We never had any of it as a pure substance.” Sharrow said. “Hydra always believed that the KGB had withheld some, but we were never able to find it. And when the USSR fell, there was so much disorganization, it was probably lost.”

“Did you try to synthesize any of it?” Tony asked.

“There was a team working on it for a while,” Sharrow said, his voice a little steadier. “But they had no success and after a while it was decided to stop expending resources on it when they could be turned to more useful things.”

“Iron Man, is that enough information for you?” Steve asked.

“I won’t know until I run it past Doctor Banner,” Tony said. “But it’s enough to start.”

“We’ll send someone in to collect you shortly,” Steve said. “Don’t worry, Doctor Sharrow. As long as you cooperate, we’ll make sure that Hydra doesn’t get to you. And if you don’t, well, it will be interesting to see what happens, won’t it?”

Steve caught Tony’s eyes and nodded towards the door, and as much as it would have felt great to punch the asshole, just once, Tony obeyed and left the room, followed by Bucky and Steve.

As soon as the door closed, Bucky’s knees crumpled. Apparently Steve had been expecting it, because he caught Bucky with one arm hooked around his waist, holding him on his feet. Tony moved in close, wanting to help but not quite sure what to do.

“You were fantastic,” Steve said. “You did exactly what I wanted you to do. And you won’t have to ever look at his ugly mug again.”

“You sure?” Bucky asked, his voice plaintive

“ _I’m_ sure,” Tony said. “You both scared the shit out of him - and I’m pretty sure that I mean that literally. He’ll cooperate just so that we don’t bring you back in, because if he’s as smart as he thinks he is, he’s got to be wondering if he just got lucky.”

“Exactly,” Steve said. “Do you think you can walk? I want to see what Coulson and May think.”

Bucky widened his stance, taking his weight back off of Steve’s arm. “Yeah, I’m okay,” he said, and Tony thought that he looked better, less pale and shaky.

The three of them went into the observation room, where Coulson and May were deep in conversation. “What do you think?” Tony asked.

“He’s telling the truth or at least as much as he knows of it,” May said. “We were just talking about who we might have that we might be able to send into Russia to see if they can find any more of this metal.”

“Do you have anyone?” Steve asked. “I know that your previous expert on Russian affairs was Natasha, but she’s obviously compromised for undercover work.”

“We’ve got Zaitseva,” May said. “She was our backup for when Romanov couldn’t be pulled off other projects. I’m pretty sure that Hill’s looked into her background.”

“I don’t want to put anyone else at risk,” Bucky said. “Bad enough that I accidentally set you up for an ambush. I don’t want someone’s death or arrest on my conscience.”

“She won’t get caught doing anything wrong,” Coulson said. “She was only a backup because Natasha was from the Red Room. She was one of our best agents before SHIELD collapsed.”

“Still -” Bucky looked torn.

“Bucky, all she’s going to do is put out some feelers to see if she can figure out if Russia has any more of the faskyx. She’s not going to steal it - she’s just going to get some information. If they do have more, we’ll figure out a way to get it that doesn’t put anyone at risk.” Steve sounded reassuring, enough that Tony _almost_ believed him.

Unfortunately, Bucky was more suspicious than Tony, which was saying something. “You can’t promise that,” he said.

“Zaitseva is excellent,” Coulson said. “And I wouldn’t be willing to put her out there if I didn’t think she could do it, since we don’t have the resources that SHIELD used to command. Let us at least ask her if she’s willing, okay, Sergeant Barnes?”

Bucky looked to Steve, who nodded, and then at Tony. Tony was torn - he understood Bucky’s reluctance to get an innocent party involved, but at the same time, they _needed_ more of the faskyx. After a moment of hesitation, he nodded as well.

“Okay, I guess,” Bucky said. “You can ask. But I don’t want her doing anything that has the remotest chance of getting caught.”

“We will do everything in our power to mitigate the risk,” Coulson said. “Now, as far as Sharrow goes, I’m pretty sure that he was telling the truth if you were going to ask that. You did an amazing job of scaring him half to death.”

Bucky smiled, and this one was real, not scary. “Thanks,” he said. “Good to know that I can use some of my skills for positive things after all.”

May actually smiled as well. “I use some of the same techniques in interrogations. It always helps if the person being interrogated isn’t quite certain if you’re completely sane.”

Coulson rolled his eyes. “They don’t think you’re crazy, May. They just think you’re going to kick their ass.”

She shrugged. “For some of these people it boils down to the same thing."


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They return to the tower.

Melinda filled them in on Clint and Natasha's interrogation of the muscle. "They rolled over easily enough - they were paid mercenaries, not even actually Hydra. They were able to give us a location in Virginia where Hydra’s maintaining a base, but from the sound of it, they’ve got a recruiting problem - there’s maybe a dozen true believers there, and probably three times that in paid mercs.”

“Worth a visit?” Steve asked.

“No,” Bucky said. “By now they know that the attack failed and they’ll have packed up and moved on. Probably while leaving a variety of traps in case we decided that it was a slow Tuesday and wanted to raid them for something to do.”

“Okay,” Steve said. “But we should send in a team to disable the traps, at least, so that no civilians get caught up in them.”

“Can we focus on one thing at a time?” Tony asked. “And yes, I know how ironic it is that it’s me saying that.”

Steve chuckled. “I guess you have a point,” he said. “Let’s get Bucky’s arm back up to snuff, and then we’ll worry about chasing down more Hydra.”

“Right,” Tony said. “So let’s go back to the tower, so that I can take this information to Bruce and we’ll see what he has to say.”

Steve nodded, while Coulson said, “If there isn’t anything you need me for right now, I’m going to go see if I can spend some time with Clint. I figure we’ll take some downtime locally, in case there’s anything you need from us.”

Tony wanted to laugh, but if he was in Coulson’s shoes, only able to see his spouse occasionally, with weeks or months in between, he knew he wouldn’t take it anywhere near as well. And they really needed Coulson out there, because the Avengers’ faces were too well known for anything resembling subterfuge.

May said, “I’ll let the rest of the team know we’ll be here for a few days. Hopefully Fitz and Simmons are being helpful with Doctor Banner and not annoying him to the point where we see the Hulk.”

Coulson snickered. “Well, hasn’t Simmons been going on about how amazing the transformation must be and wouldn’t she like to see it?”

“True,” May allowed. “But she’s the only one.”

“The Hulk isn’t so bad,” Tony said. “Banner when he hasn’t gotten enough sleep is worse.”

Both Steve and Bucky smiled at that, which had been Tony’s goal, so he counted that a win.

Steve said, “I’ll call Natasha and have her meet us at the loading dock. Please bring home my marksman in one piece.” He didn’t even blush when he said it.

“He’ll be in one piece,” Coulson promised. “Too tired to move, possibly, but one piece.”

Both Tony and Bucky snickered at that. Steve just looked slightly pained. Rather than say anything, though, he opened the door and started down the hall to the elevator. Tony could hear him speaking into the radio, to Natasha he assumed, telling her that they were done and headed back to the Tower.

May rode with them, and she held a spirited conversation with Steve about parkour and whether or not it was useful in combat situations (Steve held that it was, May seemed to think that it was too flashy and she’d rather just get the win). While they ran at the mouth, Tony leaned into Bucky and whispered, “You hanging in there?”

“I’m okay,” Bucky said. “Confused about why I have _space metal_ in my arm, and worried about how we’re going to fix it if we can’t find any more, but okay.”

“Yeah, I know that the mass spec had given us reason to think it was related to something from meteors, but it’s one thing to suspect it. It’s another entirely to have that suspicion confirmed,” Tony said. “But on the other hand, you have to admit that it’s kinda cool in a creepy kind of way.”

“I guess,” Bucky said. He wrapped his regular arm around Tony’s mid-section and pulled him closer. “Do you think - well, um - if you’re planning on going to bed at a normal time tonight, do you think that I might be able to, uh, sleep with you again?”

Tony suspected that if he turned his head so that he could see Bucky’s face, he’d be blushing a little. And while he thought that it was cute, he knew that Bucky was probably already embarrassed just for asking the question in the first place, and there was no point in making that worse.

“Gee, let me think. No nightmares for either of us, and a hot younger man in my bed,” Tony said. “Twist my arm.”

“I’m not actually younger than you,” Bucky said. “In fact, I’m about fifty years older.”

“Not if you only count lived experience,” Tony said with a smirk.

From the front of the van, Steve spoke up. “By those standards, I’m younger than both of you.”

“That’s not a thought I needed,” Tony said, grinning, then turned back to Bucky. “Hey, I thought my days of having a hot young thing in my bed were behind me. Let me have my delusions.”

“Right, Stark,” Bucky said. “If it makes you happy.”

Natasha chuckled from her seat behind them. “You know, you two are starting to grow on me. You know, like a fungus.”

Tony turned far enough to look at her, and stuck out his tongue. “You’re just jealous,” he said.

“Sorry, Stark. Neither one of you have anything that I can’t do for myself,” she said. “And even if you did, I could get it with less emotional attachments.”

Bucky chuckled and said “Вы слишком много протестуете."

“Hey, no fair to those of us who don’t speak languages other than English,” Tony said, but he was laughing, because he could see that Natasha looked like she wanted to argue but couldn’t find a way to start.

“I’ll translate later,” Bucky said. “In the meantime, don’t worry about it. I’m just teasing her.”

“I figured that much out.”

Thankfully the trip back to the tower took less time, and they arrived at the underground loading dock about then. Everyone climbed out, and scattered - May, Steve, and Natasha saying something about going to the planning room to map out the location of the current base (abandoned or not, it was going to eventually need to be dealt with), Tony and Bucky to the labs.

They discovered that Simmons had not managed to provoke the Hulk into showing up, and in fact Fitz, Simmons, and Bruce were spread around the lab, each with their own chunk of the alloy to run tests on. Tony left them to it for the moment and went next door to check on the research team.

They were looking a little frazzled, and Tony couldn’t actually blame them, because there were boxes upon boxes of paper files stacked up along the walls, in addition to the box each one of them had that they were working on.

“Susan, looks like I need to call in reinforcements?”

“Yes, please, Mister St - Tony,” she said. “There’s no way we’re going to get through this in the time we’ve been given. We _might_ be able to get it into general categories by then but anything more detailed, forget it.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Tony said. “Just keep pushing through, and remember that the priority is any information about Sergeant Barnes’ arm. Note other things that you find important or interesting, but unless they’re about an upcoming attack, they can be set aside for the moment.”

“Got it,” Susan said. She still looked frazzled, but a bit less, and Tony was going to count that as a win until he could talk to Pepper. Which was going to have to happen very soon, but would be better to happen in person.

They left the conference room, and Tony led Bucky to one of the other small meeting rooms away from the bustle of the lab and the noise of the research team. “I need to go talk to Pepper,” he said. “Do you want to stay here? Or do you want to come with me?”

“Pepper is afraid of me,” Bucky said flatly. “I’ll just terrify her if I go with you.”

“ _You_ don’t terrify her,” Tony corrected gently. “ _Hydra_ terrifies her, and to her you’re a symbol of just how evil they are. But if we’re really going to do this - if you don’t mean for this to be a one night stand once we get your arm working - you’re both going to have to get used to each other.”

“Is that supposed to be reassuring, Tony?” Bucky asked. “Because if it is, you should stop now.”

“I don’t reassure,” Tony said, pretending to be offended. “I state facts whether or not other people like them.”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Yeah, you’ve never said a reassuring thing in your life.”

“You got it. Now, I think you should come with me to see Pepper, but I’ll understand if you don’t want to.” Tony worked very hard not to look as if he was worried about Pepper yelling, but he didn’t think he was very successful at it.

“Christ, not the puppy eyes,” Bucky said. “Look, she’s your ex-girlfriend _and_ your CEO. What do you need me for?”

“If you’re there, she’s less likely to yell at me,” Tony confessed. “I’m not only going to have to tell her that I can’t give her favorite team back, but that I’m going to be tied up for the foreseeable future, and oh, by the way, I need even more of our engineering teams to be tied up with Avengers work.”

Bucky sighed. “I guess you have a point,” he said. “And I don’t want you to be yelled at because of me.” He still looked worried, though.

“Look, come with me, and if I think she’s acting squirrelly because of you, I’ll squeeze your arm and you can excuse yourself,” Tony said, improvising on the fly. He wasn’t quite sure why it was so important that Bucky be there, but he just knew that it _was_.

“You’re not going to pretend that you don’t notice just so I don’t leave?” Bucky asked, suspicion lacing his voice.

“Would I - scratch that, I totally would do that,” Tony said. “But I promise that this one time I won’t. I don’t want her to agree because she’s scared, because I’ll pay for it later.”

“Well, in that case,” Bucky said. “I guess I’ll come with you. Do you need to make an appointment? Because I’m pretty sure that Beatrice will eat you if you just show up in her office.”

“She probably would. But I don’t actually have to _call_ to find out Pepper’s schedule. FRIDAY, please check Pepper’s schedule and tell me the next time she’s in the office and has at least an hour free.”

“She is free in approximately forty-five minutes, boss,” FRIDAY answered after a brief pause. “Shall I schedule you for an appointment at that time?”

“Yes,” Tony said. “Thank you.” Then he turned his attention back to Bucky. “So her office is two floors down, and it will only take about five minutes to get there. What should we do to pass the time?”

Bucky dropped his gaze to the floor, and then looked up through his lashes. Such a flirtatious look seemed so out of place on his face as to almost be amusing, and Tony forced himself to choke back a laugh. “I suppose we could go back to the lab and see what they’re figuring out,” Bucky said.

“We could,” Tony agreed. “Or I could lock the door and we could make out for the next half hour.”

“I like that idea much better,” Bucky said.

“I thought you might. FRIDAY, lock the door, please?” There was a soft click as the door locked, and then Tony took a step closer to Bucky, getting into his personal space. “You know, you told me you’re interested, but there’s been a distinct lack of any evidence of that,” he said.

“I shared your bed last night,” Bucky said, but he was stepping forward as well, so close that Tony could feel his breath on his face.

“And you’re going to share it tonight if you’re willing,” Tony said. “But usually when I’m into someone, there’s a lot more… physicality in my relationships.”

“Tony? Shut up,” Bucky growled, and then he leaned forward and plastered his mouth against Tony’s. This kiss didn’t even pretend to be gentle or slow - it was an outright plundering of Tony’s mouth. Bucky’s tongue swept inside and tangled with Tony’s, while his flesh hand wound itself in Tony’s t-shirt as if to keep him from backing up. Like Tony _wanted_ to end this.

Instead, Tony wrapped his arms around Bucky. One sought out the back of Bucky’s neck, pulling him closer, while the other slid down and around to Bucky’s ass. Bucky groaned into his mouth, and the sound vibrated through Tony and made him moan in response.

He was aware that they needed to be careful and not get too carried away, because there was still the issue of the malfunctioning prosthetic, but it was really hard to remember when Bucky wasn’t doing anything to rein him in.

Tony wanted to let his hands roam, but he forced himself to keep them fairly stationary and focus instead on just kissing Bucky, trying to let his desire slip through. If Bucky’s fervor in returning the kiss meant anything, he was just as eager.

Apparently Bucky had amazing lung capacity, because it was Tony who was forced to break the kiss to catch his breath. He didn’t let the energy dissipate, though. Instead, he turned his head slightly so that he could graze his teeth along the tendons in Bucky’s neck, noting every place that earned a shiver or a whisper of sound. He used the hand on the back of Bucky’s neck to urge him to turn to give Tony better access, and Bucky went completely willingly.

He licked and nibbled and sucked all around Bucky’s neck, and then started to move down to the collar of his shirt. When he tried to push it out of his way with his nose, though, Bucky took a step back, not quite breaking free of Tony’s grip but definitely putting space between them. “Don’t,” he said softly. “I can’t guarantee my control.”

“I think you have better control than you give yourself credit for,” Tony said. “But I get it, nothing in an area covered by clothing. Done. Now come back here.”

Bucky hesitated, as if he wasn’t sure if Tony was serious. “No, really, I get it,” Tony said, trying to be reassuring. “Stupid Hydra tech is cockblocking both of us. Gonna have to fix that, sooner rather than later.”

“God, I hope so,” Bucky said, but he let Tony pull him back into his embrace. This time, though, he didn’t just let Tony maul his neck - he turned his attention to doing some mauling of his own. Tony couldn’t help the whine when Bucky found his pulse point with his teeth.

“Fuck,” Tony said, his voice heartfelt.

“Can’t right now,” Bucky said, and then he chuckled. The laugh sounded hollow and forced, and Tony forced himself to think with his big head.

“Bucky, you know that we’re going to fix this, right?” Tony said.

“I don’t know how,” Bucky said. “Unless you find a way to make more of the faskyx. I mean, we have some of the alloy, so short-term repairs are possible, but there’s not much, and eventually the whole arm is going to need an overhaul.”

“Hey, which of us is the mechanic?” Tony demanded. Bucky ducked his head, and Tony said, “That’s right, that’s me, not you. So when I say we’ll get it fixed, I mean it. We’ll get it fixed. After we meet with Pepper, we’re going back to the lab to get at least the part that I replaced redone in the correct alloy. That will solve some of the immediate problems.”

“And what do we do long-term?” Bucky said.

“Let me worry about that,” Tony said. He knew that he sounded blithe, like he didn’t find this a worry, and that was probably setting off alarms for Bucky, but he really was the best in the world at this. He _would_ find a solution, before it became urgent.

“Boss,” FRIDAY spoke up. “Ms. Potts’ last appointment just left, twenty minutes early. And she seems to be in a remarkably good mood. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to head down now?”

“Just what we need, an AI that’s assisting your arm in being a cockblock,” Tony said with a chuckle. “Think you’re ready to handle this?”

“You swear that you’ll get me out of there if I’m scaring her too much?” Bucky asked.

“Yeah,” Tony said. “I promise. Now, come on. Pepper’s good moods aren’t to be frittered away.”

Bucky sighed. “Okay,” he said, but he leaned forward and dropped another quick kiss on Tony’s lips. “For luck,” he said.

“It’s my company,” Tony said. “How much can she fight me?"


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony talks to Pepper. It doesn't go well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For my Starkbucks prompt O5, Blackout.
> 
> Sorry, I know this ends at a terrible place, but otherwise, this chapter was twice as long. The next section will go up first thing tomorrow.

Thirty-five minutes later, he was regretting that statement. Pepper may have been in a good mood when they got to her office, but as soon as Tony started talking, it dissipated. “Absolutely not,” she said, in response to Tony saying that he was going to need her research team for more time.

“C’mon, Pep,” he said. “You know it’s important or I wouldn’t ask.”

“Tony, I usually support everything you do with the Avengers,” she said. “Even when it hits our stocks in a negative way. But I need them back, doing the work that I actually hired them for. We can’t afford to have an R&D department that's spending all of its time on projects that have nothing to do with Stark Industries. Besides, you know how important this information exchange is. Wakanda has clean energy technology that is comparable in capability to ours while being completely different. We need this exchange.”

“You know that a lot of what I develop for the Avengers have immediate applications for the non-superhero world,” Tony said. “Besides, without them, it’s going to take me months to get through all of those files. And those are months where I’m making nothing for SI _or_ the Avengers. Can’t the Wakandans work with someone else in the department?”

“Is it that necessary?” Pepper demanded. “I mean, no offense, Sergeant Barnes, obviously finding out about your arm is important, but it sounds like you already have some good data. And everything else is going to be at least five years out of date.”

“Pepper,” Tony started, only to stutter to a stop when Bucky said, “Don’t.”

“Bucky, we need to figure out everything we can about your arm,” Tony said. “Don’t you go and be all self-sacrificing now. We’ve already got one of those on the team, and his name is Steve. It is _not_ your job. Besides, without as much data as I can possibly get, there’s no way for me to do more than do short term patches.”

Bucky was starting to get visibly agitated. “It’s not that big a deal, Tony,” he said. “If I have to live with a malfunctioning arm, I can do it. It’s just an annoyance, really.”

“Tony, I’m sorry,” Pepper said, her voice firm. “But even Sergeant Barnes agrees with me. I’ll let you keep the team for the full two weeks, and you can get what you can in that time – “ Her voice trailed off as they both turned to look at Bucky, who was flinching minutely.

“Bucky,” Tony said, reaching out to touch him on the arm, only to have Bucky jerk away forcefully.

“Don’t,” Bucky said as he pulled back. “Don’t touch me.” Pain was flashing across his face, and his mechanical arm came up and wrapped around his midsection. “Just give me a moment. I just need to calm down.” But his breathing wasn’t getting any slower, and the flinching was becoming more pronounced.

“Bucky, what’s the problem?” Tony asked, his hand hovering a few inches away from Bucky. “What’s happening?”

“Shocks,” Bucky said. “Not a big deal – they’ve been worse.”

“Shocks _are_ a big deal,” Tony said. “We’ve been over this.”

“It’s just because of stress,” Bucky said, trying to take a deep breath. “I’m sure of it.”

Tony whirled to face Pepper, “It’s getting worse, Pep. You can’t deny that it’s necessary – can you think of anything more stressful than going into a fight with an arm that might shock you at any moment?”

Pepper was biting her lip, and Tony felt for her, he really did. Pepper was so much better at being CEO than he ever was – more responsible, more careful, more _everything_ , but she had to remember that other things were important, too.

Bucky twitched hard enough to yank his attention back, and for the first time he made a soft sound of discomfort. “Bucky, maybe you should –” Tony started to say, thinking that maybe bringing him into this discussion really had been a mistake, but just then, Bucky’s eyes rolled back into his head, and he fell like a stone.

“Bucky!” Tony cried, hitting his knees next to him. He was vaguely aware that Pepper was calling down to the Avengers medical floor, but he was more concerned about whether he could touch Bucky safely.

Then Bucky started to convulse, and that forced Tony to act. He took a split second to wish that he had some of the insulating equipment from his shop. But here, all he could do was crouch on his toes, hoping that the soles of his shoes would ground him against any possible shocks. Carefully, he grabbed Bucky’s metal arm and popped the opening at the top that concealed the kill switch. He could feel the build up in electricity in the way that his fingers were starting to tingle, but that was okay, that was fine. He just needed to hit the kill switch without accidentally hitting any of the surrounding mechanics.

He forced himself to take a slow, deep breath, and then he reached in and pushed the button. The arm went instantly limp, and the charge receded, but Bucky didn’t immediately wake up. “Bucky,” Tony said, his hands hovering over Bucky’s body. He wasn’t sure what to do – whether he should try to wake him, or if he should move him, and before he could make up his mind, the door to Pepper’s office opened, admitting one of the emergency teams, along with Steve and Bruce.

“What happened, Tony?” Steve asked as Tony stumbled to his feet and let the medical team get to Bucky.

“We were discussing the resources I need for research on Bucky’s arm,” Tony said, not looking at Pepper. He was not going to blame her for this. He was _not_ \- he wasn’t the best person on the face of the planet, but he knew that this wasn’t her fault. Whatever was happening with Bucky, would have happened sooner or later, regardless of an argument with Pepper. “His arm started shocking him, and then he collapsed and started having some sort of seizure. I managed to hit the kill switch, and he stopped, but he’s still unconscious.”

While he’d been talking, the medical team had carefully transferred Bucky to the stretcher they’d brought with them, and were rolling him out of Pepper’s office. “Wait a second,” Tony said. “I’m coming with you.”

“Sorry, sir, but no one’s going to be allowed in the room until the doctor gets a chance to look at him,” one of the team said, even as the rest of the team kept moving.

“Well, at least let Doctor Banner come,” Tony said, desperate for Bucky not to wake up in a room full of medical personnel he didn’t recognize. It wasn’t just for Bucky’s sake, but out of concern for the amount of damage the man could do even with his prosthetic powered down.

“Fine,” she said. “We need to hurry, though.” And with that, she was off after the team. Bruce shot Tony a quick look and then followed at her heels.

Steve laid a hand on Tony’s shoulder. “He’ll be fine,” Steve said, with the utter certainty of a child, the conviction that saying it would make it so, and Tony wished that he could have that confidence. “They won’t let us in the room, but we should at least head down to medical so that when the doctor knows what’s happening we’re there.”

“Right, right.” Tony turned towards the door.

“Tony?” Pepper’s voice was shaky and watery, as if she was fighting back tears. Tony turned to look at her. “You can have the teams as long as you need them. And let me know who else you need.”

“Thanks, Pep,” Tony said.

Steve and Tony ran to the elevator, and once again Tony had reason to praise FRIDAY, because it was there and open and waiting for them. As soon as they were inside, it started to descend rapidly to the forty-fifth floor, where it opened out onto the medical center anteroom.

The medical center was technically open to everyone in the building, for minor injuries and illnesses, but the building occupants were aware that it was primarily for the Avengers. No one even looked up as they ran past reception and headed to the back waiting room.

Steve and Tony were the first ones there, but they were joined a few minutes later by Natasha and Thor. “Any news?” she asked.

“Not yet,” Tony said from where he was pacing.

“Tony, sit down,” Natasha said. “Wearing a hole in the carpet isn’t going to get you information any more quickly.”

He wanted to argue or just ignore everyone and storm back to the treatment area, but instead he took a deep breath. There _was_ something concrete he could do while he waited. “FRIDAY, patch me into the researchers,” he said.

“Connected,” she said.

“Susan?” Tony asked.

“Yes, Mis – Tony. What can we do for you?”

“I’ve spoken to Ms. Potts. I’ve got your team for the foreseeable future so that we can get through all the information that Director Coulson’s team brought in. Additionally, if there’s anyone that you can recommend bringing in on the project, let Maria Hill know so that their clearance can be upped if necessary.”

There was no disguising of the relief in Susan’s voice. “Thank you, Tony,” she said. “I’ve already got a list of names that we’ll send to Ms. Hill right away.”

“Thanks. I’ll check in with you in the morning,” he said.

“We’ll have some information for you by then, hopefully.”

Tony said, “FRIDAY, disconnect the call.”

“Is that what set this off?” Steve said. “Were you arguing or something?”

Tony once again resisted the urge to throw Pepper under the bus. _This was not her fault_. It was Hydra’s. He was going to keep repeating that until he believed it.

“There was a bit of a disagreement over the amount of resources we should be putting into researching Bucky’s arm,” he said carefully. “But – and I’m saying this without talking to the doctor or Bruce – I suspect that any real stress would have caused a similar reaction. The arm is breaking down, faster every day.”

Steve nodded. “Okay. So we need to wait and see what the doctor says.”

“Yeah,” Tony said. He started pacing again, only to have Thor materialize next to him and lead him to a chair. At least the chairs in medical were comfortable, and not the torture devices so typical of doctor’s offices.

He sat, with Natasha on one side and Steve on the other, Thor sitting across from them. He realized that this was pretty unfair, because Steve couldn’t be handling this particularly well either, and yet here he was, reassuring _Tony_ , but he wasn’t tough enough to turn it away. He did ask, “Are you doing okay?”

“I’m fine,” Steve said, but his eyes were serious. “I’m sure with all the resources we’ve got, and with you and Bruce working on the problem, we’ll figure it out.”

Tony wished he was as certain.

They sat in silence for about ten minutes, and then there was a loud crash, followed by yelling coming from the examination room. All four of them stood, and without a word headed back, passing the nurse at the entrance.

What they found made Tony’s blood run cold. Bucky was awake, and standing, his back against the wall. He was shirtless, with EKG pads attached to his chest. His prosthetic still hung limp, but he had his flesh and blood hand up, as if he was warding everyone off. Bruce was in front of Bucky with the medical team behind him, saying, “Bucky. _Bucky_. Sergeant Barnes! You’re safe. You’re _safe_. No one is going to hurt you.”

“Bruce?” Bucky said plaintively, and then he appeared to notice the motion of Steve, Tony, Natasha, and Thor coming into the room. “It’s really not a dream?” he asked, directed at Steve.

Steve walked forward, the medical team scattering out of his way. “It’s really not a dream, Buck,” Steve said. “You’re safe. Can you come away from the wall?”

“I don’t want anyone to touch me,” Bucky said, but he stepped forward, dropping his hand.

“I know, Buck, but you collapsed and we need to figure out why,” Steve said. “Everyone in this room is safe, I promise, and we won’t leave you alone as long as you have to be here.”

Bucky’s eyes darted from Steve to Tony. He reached out, saying, “Tony, what happened?”

Tony didn’t even try to stop himself from going to stand next to Bucky. He didn’t grab hold of him, but he did press up against his side. “We don’t know, Bucky. How about you sit back down and let the doctor examine you? Anyone you want will stay with you. You know that if Steve and I agree on something it’s definitely going to happen.”

“Okay,” Bucky said. “Okay.” He started to waver on his feet, and Tony wrapped an arm around his back.

Unable to support his weight, and certainly unable to move Bucky outside of the suit, Tony braced Bucky as best as he could and said, “I need a hand here.”

Before any of the medical team could react, Steve was right there, picking up Bucky and carrying him over to the exam table. He set him down, and Tony helped him lie back. “Who do you want to stay?” he asked, bracing himself for Bucky to say Steve.

Only he didn’t. Instead, he reached out a hand towards Tony. “Don’t go,” he said.

Tony reached and clasped Bucky’s hand in his own. “I won’t,” he said. “I’ll stay right here.”

“Sir,” one of the doctors said, “We really need to see what’s going on with Sergeant Barnes’ arm.”

“And you can,” Tony said, knowing he sounded pissy but not caring in the slightest. “I’m on his other side. Work around me.”

The doctor sighed, but started giving out instructions. Tony gave Bucky’s hand a squeeze as one of the nurses started reattaching the EKG wires, releasing it only long enough for her to insert an IV. He then looked up to see that Steve was staring at where Tony and Bucky were holding hands. “Steve?” he asked.

“I’ll be in the other room,” Natasha said, leaving the room rapidly. Tony wasn’t surprised - Natasha tended to avoid anything that smacked of emotions - but he kind of wished she had stayed, because Steve looked so lost. Thor followed her out, his hand on her back.

“I guess I’ll be waiting next door too,” Steve said, but Bucky lifted his head and shot a glare at him.

“You’re not going anywhere, punk,” he said. “There’s only room for one of you right here, so you and Tony will have to take turns, but I want both of you in here.” He swallowed, and from the outside it looked painful. “I just - don’t leave me alone, okay?”

Steve nodded, his expression clearing. “Okay, Bucky,” he said. “I’ll stay.” He glanced around the room, and then pointed at a chair that was up against the wall. “I’m just going to sit over there, out of the way. Is that alright with you, you jerk?”

Bucky smiled. It wasn’t the wide grin that Tony was so fond of, but it _was_ sincere looking. “That’s fine.”

Steve settled himself into the chair, and Tony let his attention focus back on Bucky. They were surrounded by medical personnel and Bruce, and so Tony couldn’t tell Bucky just how rattled he was by what had happened. But as the doctors talked about electrical burns and possible heart arrhythmias and Bucky’s loss of consciousness, he distracted himself by leaning over and brushing a kiss over Bucky’s cheek. “Don’t do that again, would you please?” he asked.

“Wasn’t like I chose to do it this time,” Bucky said, his voice tired. “Now be nice to me - there’s only room in my life for one punk and that role’s definitely been taken by Steve.”

“Does saving your life count as nice?” Tony asked. “Cause if so, I think I’ve already fulfilled my quota here today.”

“I guess,” Bucky said, his voice petulant.

Just then, Bruce interrupted. “I’m sorry, guys, but we’re going to need to separate you for a few minutes. We need to do a CAT scan and, if the material of Bucky’s arm allows, an MRI of Bucky’s chest, and for that you’re going to need to let go.”

Tony winced. _He_ hated MRIs. He couldn’t imagine that they were going to be easy for Bucky - too similar to the damn cryotube. “Bruce, does he have to have the MRI?” Tony asked plaintively.

“Yes,” Bruce was firm but sympathetic. “I know how bad they are, though, so once we make sure it’s safe to do, if it’s okay with you, Bucky, we’re going to sedate you.”

“What, no,” Bucky said. “I don’t need to be sedated for a test.”

“Let them sedate you,” Steve spoke up from the side. “We sedate Tony when he has to have one, and if they could sedate me, I’d do the same. They’re loud and claustrophobic and a nightmare waiting to happen.”

“Hell, no,” Bucky said, and both Tony and Bruce sighed. It was possible that Bucky was the most stubborn member of the team, and that was taking Steve into account.

“Let’s go for the test,” Tony said. “If he can have the MRI at all, he’ll be miked in the tube, so if he changes his mind he can let us know.”

“Thank you,” Bucky said.

“You have to promise to speak up if it’s too much for you,” Tony said, trying hard not to let his worry show. “None of this stubborn chin up crap, right?”

“Fine,” Bucky said. “So let’s go.”

“First, we need to see if it’s safe to take you in the MRI suite,” one of the techs said, holding up a small device. “This will test the metal in your arm and chest to make sure that it’s not ferromagnetic – that it won’t be affected by the magnets in the MRI. I don’t have to touch it to you – just pass it a few inches over the surface of your arm. Is that okay, Sergeant Barnes?”

“Just get it over with,” Bucky growled, visibly bracing himself as she brought the small box closer to him and started to run it over his arm. After a moment, he relaxed. “I don’t feel anything,” he said.

“That’s right – you shouldn’t,” she said. She made a few more passes over the arm, all the way down to his fingers, and then over the metal imbedded in Bucky’s shoulder. “You’re in luck, sir,” she said. “I don’t know if they designed it with the idea that you might be exposed to strong magnets or it’s just a coincidence, but you’re safe to go into the MRI.”

“If you call that lucky,” Tony grumbled.

“Not helping,” Steve said. “He says he can handle it. Let’s assume that that’s the case and not doubt him, okay?”

“Right here,” Bucky said. “And I’ll be _fine_.

One of the members of the medical team released the brakes on the bed, and started to wheel it away, leaving Tony standing there alone. It didn’t last long, though - a few seconds later, Steve was standing next to him, his hand on his shoulder. “I know they won’t let us in the actual exam room,” Steve said, “But let’s go stand in the control room and watch. I know it’ll make me feel better to know that he hasn’t freaked out about the MRI.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Tony said, relieved that Steve had suggested it, because coming from him, no one was going to question it. He didn’t say anything about the fact that Steve had just told him off for assuming that Bucky was going to freak and then going and doing the same thing. He knew that Steve was as worried as Tony, if not more.

“And Tony?” Steve said as they followed the path the stretcher had taken. “Thank you for saving him.”

Tony could feel his face heating, but he didn’t say anything. He didn’t know what to say.

The medical team was proficient and quick - especially when they only had one patient at the moment - so Bucky was already on the CAT scan bed by the time Steve and Tony got to the control room. Tony wasn’t really worried about this test, but he kept an eye on Bucky the entire time anyway, just to be sure.

The CAT scan was fast - less than ten minutes - and rather than transfer Bucky back to the stretcher, they just pushed him to the other room in a wheelchair. Tony could _see_ Bucky arguing over the necessity, but he knew from experience that the medical staff were immovable on some things, and this was definitely one of them. A few moments later, Bucky sighed - visible from the control room - and sat in the chair.

As they wheeled him next door to the MRI, Tony and Steve both watched closely. Bucky was taking deep even breaths as he was wheeled next to the tube, and did okay as he laid back on the bed, but as the tech started to slide Bucky in head first, Tony heard Bucky call out, “Stop,” over the microphone.

Instantly, the tech pushed the button to pull Bucky back out, but even as fast as she’d been, Bucky was pale and shaky when he was out far enough to sit up.

Tony ignored the tech who said, “Mister Stark, wait -” and pushed open the door to the MRI room.

“Bucky?” he asked, crouching next to where Bucky sat on the MRI bed. “What is it?”

“You were right,” Bucky said. “If I have to go into that tube, I want to be sedated.”

“Thank you,” Tony said, and brushed a kiss over his cheek.

“For what? Being a wimp?” Bucky asked derisively.

“For not being a stubborn ass and suffering through something that we can make easier for you,” Tony said. He looked up and saw one of the nurses approaching with a syringe in her hand. “Is that the sedative?”

“Yes, Mister Stark,” she said. “Sergeant Barnes, we’ve used this sedative on you previously, and you haven’t had any ill effects, but if you have symptoms beyond being sleepy, please let us know immediately.”

He nodded, swallowing hard, as the nurse injected it into the port on his IV. Tony continued to hold his hand until Bucky cracked a huge yawn, and then he gently urged him to swing around and lie down on the bed. “You’re going to be here, right?” Bucky asked, his eyes mere slits as he fought to stay awake.

“I’m only going as far as the control room,” Tony said. “And as soon as the test is over I’ll be right next to you again, I promise.”

“Okay,” Bucky slurred out. Tony stayed right where he was until Bucky’s body went limp, and then he carefully placed Bucky’s hand back on the bed and backed away.

“Let’s get this done,” he said, as he entered the control room.

“Yes, Mister Stark,” the technician said, and she punched a series of buttons that caused the bed to slide into the tube. It started to clank and clatter as it spun up, and various images started to come up on her screen.

Tony made a mental note to check on the medical research departments to see if they were making any progress on an MRI that didn’t sound like a devil’s playground. There was no reason for them to be this horrific even when you were on the outside, for god’s sake.

Thankfully, the sedative held for the forty-five minutes that the test lasted. Tony had to restrain himself from asking what the hell was taking so long, but the tech running the machine seemed to sense that both Steve and Tony were getting antsy. “We’re running multiple tests so that he won’t have to go back in,” she said. Tony had to admit that that made a certain amount of sense.

Bucky was still asleep as the bed slid out of the tube. Several technicians worked together to transfer him to a stretcher, and then, accompanied by Steve and Tony, they went back to the exam room.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a fight. Tony doesn't handle it gracefully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starkbucks N3 - Free space
> 
> Tony copes with large amounts of alcohol. Him being drunk is not explicitly shown, but please use caution when reading.
> 
> I'm sorry?

While Tony had spared no expense in building the medical suite, he hadn’t been able to justify having a doctor of every possible specialty on duty all the time. Instead, he had contributed a very large amount of money to New York Memorial Medical to build a new wing. In return, his hospitalist had almost instantaneous connections with whatever department he needed.

In this case, it meant that the computerized records of the CAT and MRI scans were sent by encrypted file to their radiology department, to be read by one of the doctors there who had been cleared to look at Avenger files.

By the time the doctor called, Bucky was starting to wake up from the sedation, but this time, thankfully, it was a lot more gentle. Tony only knew that he was awake when Bucky squeezed his hand and said, “All done?”

“Yep. You did great,” Tony said, leaning down and brushing a kiss across his cheek.

“All I did was sleep,” Bucky said with a snort.

“And what a lovely sleeping beauty you were,” Tony said.

This time the snort came from Steve, still standing to one side of the room. “Really, Buck? You’re going to let him call you that?” he said with a laugh.

“Oh, shut it, you,” Bucky grumbled. “He saved my life. He can call me sleeping beauty if he wants. _Once_.”

Both Steve and Tony laughed at that, but it dried up when Doctor Wells came into the room with a serious look on her normally smiling face. “Doctor Wells?” Tony asked, standing up to be eye level with her.

“Mister Stark, Captain Rogers. I need you to step out of the room so that I can discuss the test results with Sergeant Barnes,” she said.

“We go through this song and dance every time one of us is injured,” Tony said. “You know that a, we’re not going to let one of our own take bad news by themselves, and b, that the whole team is going to know within an hour. Isn’t there some sort of form we can fill out so we don’t have to keep doing this?”

She sighed. “I’ll have one of the admin people write something up. In the meantime, whether or not you stay is up to the Sergeant.”

“They can stay,” Bucky said. “I want them both to stay.”

“Fine,” she said. “The good news is that there doesn’t appear to be any _permanent_ damage to your heart from the extended exposure to electricity. Nor is there any evidence of a heart attack from it.”

Bucky swallowed hard. “Okay, that’s the good news. What’s the bad?”

“There’s a fair amount of tissue _around_ your heart that _was_ damaged. Given the fact that you heal at such a fast rate, the cardiologist that I consulted believes that you will recover, but he agrees that we absolutely can’t risk another prolonged shock like that.” She bit her lip. “His suggestion is that if we can’t repair your arm, that we remove it entirely to prevent a possible heart attack that could kill you next time.”

“Yeah, we won’t be removing it,” Tony said. “We’re getting that fucker fixed, and quickly.”

“Tony,” Bucky said, voice strained. “It’d be easier to just take it off. And then you wouldn’t have to waste so much time.”

Tony turned to look at Steve. “Has he always been a stubborn ass?” he asked, keeping his voice light. “Or is this a new development?”

“He learned it from me,” Steve said. “It rubbed off on him about the time we were both ten.”

“Hey, first of all, ‘he’ is _still_ right here,” Bucky said, sounding seriously annoyed. “Second of all, it’s _my_ damn arm. I get to decide what happens to it.”

Tony heard what Bucky said, he really did, but it did not fucking compute. What good was being a billionaire genius if he couldn’t fix problems like this? So he pulled his phone out of his pocket and woke it up, connecting to FRIDAY. “FRIDAY, put me through to the research team,” he said.

“Hey,” Bucky said, sounding annoyed, but Tony waved him away. He was going to _fix_ this, dammit.

“Yes, Tony?” Susan said into Tony’s ear.

“I need every bit of information that your team has found on the reprium and the faskyx, especially the molecular structure of it if you can find it. And we are now officially in crunch time. Pull in the people you need, and no one leaves until every piece of paper and every computer file has been checked for information.”

“ _Hey_!” This time, Bucky was louder, so Tony covered his other ear.

“Pull in Doctors Banner, Fitz, and Simmons, and see if you can get Richards in on a consult as well. We need options – either a way to create more of it, or something to act as a substitute.”

A cup of water hit Tony in the side of the head and exploded, covering him in it, even as Steve took the phone out of his hand. Before Tony could do anything but stand there in shock, Steve spoke into the phone. “Susan, this is Captain Rogers. Please don’t do anything unless you hear either from Sergeant Barnes or myself. You may continue to go through the data, but do not call in anyone else at this time.”

Then Steve disconnected the call, and Tony stood there, staring at the two of them in shock. “What the _hell_?” he demanded.

“It’s _Bucky’s_ arm,” Steve said firmly. “He is the only person who gets to make decisions about it. Not me, and not you. If he wants it removed, then we will find a way to remove it safely, and we will find a way to work around the fact that that will leave him with one arm. But you will not subvert what he wants done.”

“But – “ Tony said, but his voice sounded weak, even to himself.

“Give me something else to throw,” Bucky demanded, and Tony turned to look at him.

“I don’t understand. I’m just trying – “ Tony started.

“Look, Tony, I like you,” Bucky said. “But that doesn’t give you permission to run my life. I know you’re just trying to help, but you don’t get to overrule me, especially without talking to me _first_.”

“I wasn’t going to actually touch your arm without talking to you first,” Tony said, stung. “I wouldn’t do that.”

“You would, actually,” Steve said. “You’re always looking for ways to improve our equipment and for the most part we appreciate it, but this is not a new bow for Clint or improved Bites for Natasha. This is actually attached to Bucky, and he’s been fucked with enough over the last seventy years. Just because you want to sleep with him – and he wants to sleep with you – does not give you the right to ignore what he wants.”

Tony reared back as if he’d been slapped. He _felt_ like he’d been slapped. For the first time in a very long time, he found himself at a loss for words. He hadn’t been _trying_ to ignore what Bucky wanted, but he could fix this, he could make it better, and he didn’t understand why Bucky wouldn’t want that. So for a very long moment, he just stared at Bucky, his mouth moving silently as he tried to come up with some sort of defense.

“I don’t understand,” he finally said. “I can do this. There is no reason for Bucky to go without his arm, at least not more than a day or two. Why are we arguing over this?”

“Because you’re not _listening_ ,” Bucky said. “I don’t want a ton of people slaving away to fix something that can be remedied in five minutes. If you won’t take it off, then go away and send in Bruce. I’m sure he can figure it out.”

“But - “ Tony said, weakly. “I thought - “

Steve broke in. “Right now, we’re not going to make any permanent decisions. Tony, you need to go be somewhere _else_ , somewhere not _here_. Bucky, do you want the arm removed right away, or can we just leave the kill switch set while you think about what you want?”

“The kill switch is fine for now.” Bucky looked over at Tony and sighed. “I’m not breaking up with you over this,” he said. “But right now I’m too worked up to make good decisions and you’re not listening at all. Come back when you’ve thought about it and have a better idea of why I’m upset.”

“Fine, I guess,” Tony said, a hollow feeling in his chest, like the arc reactor had been ripped out all over again. “I just…” his voice trailed off, because Steve stood up and moved between the two of them, blocking Tony from being able to see Bucky without leaning one way or the other. “I guess I’ll be leaving then.”

He didn’t run out of the room, and he didn’t cry, because Stark men didn’t cry. But he did go to the penthouse, grab a bottle of scotch and a glass, and go out on the deck to start drinking. Maybe alcohol would make some of this make sense.

He had no idea how long he’d sat there when Bruce came out and sat down next to him. “So, I guess today has sucked for you too, huh?” Bruce said, his voice gentle.

Tony was proud that his voice didn’t shake when he said, “Yeah. I just don’t get it. I can _fix_ this. He was fine with me fixing it before he collapsed, but now he’s not?” He picked up the bottle of scotch to pour himself another glass, making a face at how low the level was. He’d need to get another bottle in a bit.

He resolutely did not think about how much had been in the bottle when he’d started.

Bruce reached out and took the bottle away from him, setting it down out of Tony’s reach. Tony thought about arguing, but he knew how those arguments with Bruce went - he always ended up losing. So instead, he rested his forearms on his knees and leaned forward, his mind still spinning. “I just don’t _understand_.”

“He’s scared,” Bruce said. “It was bad enough when the arm was just malfunctioning, but today it could have killed him if you hadn’t been there. And this is a situation where Bucky has no control - not over what his arm does, not over what you might find, none. So he’s taking some of that control back.”

“I’m not trying to take control over him,” Tony said, stung. “I’m doing this so he has _more_ control.”

“But he doesn’t see it that way, Tony. It’s _your_ people, _your_ resources, and neither of you have said anything, but I bet Pepper was arguing with you about those resources when this happened, wasn’t she?”

“This wasn’t her fault,” Tony was quick to say.

“I’m not saying it was,” Bruce said. “But it put the idea in Bucky’s head that too many resources were being used, and he had no say in it all. I’m sure that he prefers to have a working arm to having no arm at all. But there’s nothing he can directly control that lets him have that outcome.”

Tony rubbed his hands over his face. “Well, I’ve fucked this one all to hell and back,” he said. “Serves me right for thinking I might be able to make a relationship work. If I couldn’t make it work with Pepper, there’s no way I could make it work with someone else.”

“Stop it,” Bruce said. “From what Steve and Bucky said, he wasn’t dumping you. He just wanted you to stop and think and not run roughshod over him in your hurry to fix what you see as the problem.”

“Fine, so I’m thinking,” said Tony. “I’m thinking, but I’m not seeing a way to fix this. I’m a mechanic and an engineer. Fixing _things_ is what I _do_. People, on the other hand, I don’t get.”

“And Bucky knows that,” Bruce said, his voice gentle. “He’s not angry. He’s scared. So take some time to sober up, and think about how you should approach this. Give him tonight to talk to Steve and recover - he’s not permanently injured, but I bet he’s sore as all hell - and then tomorrow go to him and ask him - not _tell_ but _ask_ what he’ll let you do. When you’ve both had time to calm down, I think it’ll go a lot better.”

“Are you sure?” Tony hated how plaintive his voice sounded, but he was just getting used to having Bucky in his life, and he didn’t want to lose him.

“Nothing’s sure with people, Tony. They aren’t chemical equations. But Bucky likes you, he’s stood up to Steve to be with you, and if you don’t approach him as a problem to be fixed but rather a partner _with_ a problem that both of you can work on, it should be okay.”

Tony sighed. “This is why I don’t do people, Bruce. They’re too complicated.”

“Yep. Most complicated engineering problem in the world, and there’s no one solution,” Bruce said with a laugh. “Now, I think you’ve had enough to drink, and maybe you should head to bed. Today has been a hell of a long day, and I bet you’re more exhausted than you realize.”

With a frown, Tony remembered his earlier promise to share his bed with Bucky again tonight. No way was it happening, but he couldn’t help but feel a little melancholy about it. But sitting out here and pouting wasn’t going to fix the problem either. “I guess you’re right,” he said, standing up and stretching. “Maybe this will make more sense in the morning.”

“Hopefully,” Bruce said, also standing. “I mean it, Tony - no more drinking tonight. Have a glass of water and head to bed.”

“Yes, sir,” Tony said. “Hey, could you send the research team home? I guess it’s no fair keeping them here all night when I don’t know what decision Bucky is going to make.”

“I did that about three hours ago,” Bruce said. “Right after Steve called me and explained what had happened.”

“So you let me sit up here and drink all by myself for three hours? That’s not very kind of you,” Tony said. “Aren’t you supposed to be the Good Samaritan of the Avengers?”

“You needed time to calm down before you’d hear what I had to say,” Bruce said evenly. “If I’d shown up three hours ago you would have just wound yourself up even more.”

Tony hated the thought that he was that predictable, but at the same time, he couldn’t actually deny Bruce’s assertion. “Fine,” he said. “I guess that makes sense.”

Bruce reached out and squeezed Tony’s shoulder. “Get some sleep, Tony. Things will look better in the morning.”

“I can’t see how they’d look worse,” Tony muttered, but he picked up his glass and the bottle of scotch before heading back inside. Setting them both on the bar, he showed Bruce out with him giving one last admonishment to drink some water, and then he went to sit on the couch.

He knew Bruce was right and that he should go to bed, but he wasn’t sure he’d be able to sleep. Especially when he'd been looking forward to sharing his bed with Bucky again. Even without the sex, it was one of the most intimate things he’d ever done, holding Bucky so that he could sleep well.

Resting his elbows on his knees, he leaned forward so that he could lace his fingers behind his neck, and just sat, trying not to think. As always, it was difficult, though the amount of alcohol in his system helped.

He sat there long enough that he started to stiffen up, and when FRIDAY spoke, he jumped. “Boss, Sergeant Barnes is at the door of the penthouse. Shall I admit him?”

“Bucky’s here?” Tony asked in surprise. “Yes, of course, let him in.”

The door swung open, and Bucky sidled in, not meeting Tony’s eyes. Tony stood up and tried to look penitent and unthreatening, but imagined that he probably mostly looked constipated.

“I, uh, I didn’t expect Wells to discharge you tonight,” Tony said.

“She didn’t. I left without telling her,” Bucky said.

“Great,” Tony said. “Does anyone know where you are? Because I don’t want to have to field a search party while you’re yelling at me some more.”

“Steve helped me get out of the medical area,” Bucky said, with a tentative smile. “I’m here because you promised that we could sleep together again tonight.”

“Really?” Tony asked, surprised. “I didn’t figure you’d want to after we fought.”

“Tony, you’re oblivious and bad with people, but I knew that before I hit on you,” Bucky said. “I don’t consider **a** fight, singular, to be enough of a reason to break up before we’ve really had a chance to see if we can make it work.”

“It was a hell of a fight,” Tony said. He didn’t know why he was arguing when he had Bucky here.

“It was, and it’s not one I’m in the mood to continue right now,” Bucky said.

For the first time, Tony really _looked_ at Bucky and realized just how exhausted he appeared. Tony couldn’t really blame him - it had been a terrible day.

So Tony made a decision - anything about the arm could wait for morning. “You know what? I’m not either,” he said. “Let’s just get some sleep.”

“Thank you,” Bucky said, and it sounded so sincere, not like Bucky was forcing it, but like he really meant it, even after their earlier fight. Tony wasn’t sure what to make of it, but he wasn’t going to argue.

The two of them headed towards Tony’s bedroom quietly, and stripped down to their boxers without having to discuss it. Tony offered Bucky first crack at the bathroom, taking a moment to grab a bottle of water out of the small fridge he kept in the bedroom and drinking most of it in one long swallow.

Bucky didn’t take long, and Tony quickly brushed his teeth and threw some water on his face before going back out into the bedroom, where he found Bucky already on “his” side of the bed, facing towards Tony. Tony slid into the bed, lying on his back so that Bucky could pillow his head on Tony’s shoulder, his real arm across Tony’s stomach. “You know I’m doing this because I care about you, don’t you?” Tony couldn’t help but say.

“I know, Tony.” Bucky squeezed him a little. “We’ll talk about it in the morning. Right now we both need sleep.”

“Right. Sleep.” Tony brushed a kiss over the top of Bucky’s head, and then closed his eyes. “See you in the morning, Bucky.”

“See you then, Tony,” Bucky said.

It didn’t take long for both of them to fall asleep.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Bucky have a conversation like grown-ups. Now Tony has a deadline to beat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starkbucks prompt N5 - Schmoop

They weren’t as lucky about nightmares as they had been the night before. Tony had been asleep long enough that when Bucky started to twitch violently in his sleep, making soft pained noises, it took a bit for it to really filter through to him. But when it did, his eyes shot open. The room was dark, and Bucky had turned away from him in his sleep, but he was shaking hard enough to make the bed vibrate.

“Bucky, it’s okay,” Tony said, softly. He didn’t want to wake Bucky if he could avoid it, but he needed to ease him out of the dream. “You’re safe and in bed with me. Just relax.”

Bucky continued to twitch and whine, and Tony realized that he was deeply enough asleep that he couldn’t hear Tony’s soft words. He knew that it probably wasn’t safe to touch Bucky when he was like this, but he couldn’t bear to let him fight through this alone, either. So he turned so that he was on his knees, an arm’s length away from Bucky, and then gently touched him on the arm. “Bucky, you’re safe,” he said a bit louder. “But you need to wake up now.”

It wasn’t until he tried shaking Bucky gently, though, that Bucky shot up, gasping for air. “Wha - where - Tony?” he said.

“Yeah, Bucky,” Tony said. “You were having a nightmare.”

“I’m not surprised,” Bucky said. “I can go back to my room if you want.” He was panting like he’d run a marathon, and Tony wasn’t sure that he was completely awake. His words were slurred.

“No, that’s not what I want,” Tony said. “I want you to take a few deep breaths for me, though.”

“What?”

“You heard me,” Tony said. “Come on, take a breath in for me.” He took in a large breath to demonstrate, and let it out slowly. The second time, Bucky imitated him, and it only took a few breaths to get his back under control. “You with me?” Tony asked.

“Yeah, sorry,” Bucky sounded embarrassed. No, he sounded _ashamed_ , and Tony never wanted to hear that particular tone in his voice again.

“Nothing to be sorry about,” Tony said. “I’d honestly have been more surprised if you had made it through the night without a nightmare, after the day you had.” Tony thought about what Pepper had done when he’d had nightmares. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“ _God_ , no,” Bucky said. He turned around so that he was facing Tony, and Tony could just barely make out his features in the dark. “I just… god, I want to kiss you, but I _can’t_. Even when we were fighting earlier, all I could think was how much I wanted to kiss you.”

“Why can’t you?” Tony asked. “I mean, I’m not objecting, and if you’re consenting, that means that we should be able to.”

“I’m still dangerous,” Bucky said, and his voice sounded agonized, like it was being dragged out of him.

“We’re both dangerous,” Tony said. “The whole team is dangerous. But right now, I see no reason that we shouldn’t lie down and just make out until we both fall asleep again.” Tony could see Bucky’s mouth opening to argue, and he held up his hands to forestall the objection. “Nothing below the waist.”

“Are you sure?” Bucky asked. “Is this a risk you’re really willing to take?”

“I’ve taken stupider ones for less reason,” Tony said honestly. “Your prosthetic is turned off, and you’re in your right mind. And it’s just _kissing_. I know we were fighting earlier, and we may fight again tomorrow - can’t we have a few kisses on account of that?”

Bucky chuckled softly. “You should have been a lawyer. Fine, kissing.”

“Don’t insult me like that,” Tony said, but he laid down on his side, facing Bucky, who mirrored him. He brought his hand up and traced Bucky’s eyebrow and down his cheek to his chin, pulling him forward a little so that their lips could meet.

There was kissing and there was _kissing_ , and this fell firmly in the second. This was sex in all the ways that mattered. Tony was hard and he could feel that Bucky was too, but he’d promised nothing below the waist, so he focused on the feel of their lips pressing together, the taste of Bucky’s mouth.

Far too soon, Bucky pulled back, his lips parting from Tony’s with a soft sigh. “I’m still mad at you,” he said, but his voice was soft, and held traces of laughter. “Kissing me isn’t going to change that.”

Tony grimaced. He knew they needed to talk about this, but he was still a little buzzed from the booze, not quite awake, and it was the middle of the night. “I’m sure you are,” he answered, “but how about we try to sleep the rest of the night before we get into it? And maybe we should have seconds for the discussion.”

That got an honest laugh from Bucky. “A second, really? This isn’t a duel, Tony. It’s a conversation. Well, an argument, but still, not a duel.”

“So you say.” Tony shifted around so that he was lying down again, and patted the bed next to him. “You weren’t the person who had stuff thrown at you.”

“I think if you listen when I talk, I won’t have to throw anything else.” Bucky slowly laid down, pillowing his head on Tony’s shoulder and nuzzling in close. “But fine, before we talk about it again, we’ll get someone else there, okay?”

“Sounds fair to me.” Tony yawned. “But for now, let’s get some more sleep, okay?”

“Yeah. I think we can do that.”

Tony closed his eyes, and turned his head so that he could press a kiss to the top of Bucky’s head. He felt Bucky kiss his collarbone in response, and he couldn’t help but smile a little in response. Then he wrapped his arm more firmly around Bucky and let himself drift off to sleep.

“Boss, it's time to get up,” FRIDAY’s voice broke through Tony’s dream about Bucky’s arm wrapping itself around Tony’s throat and choking him. Her voice was a welcome distraction, and when she repeated herself, he managed to get his eyes open.

“Yeah, I’m awake,” he said. Turning his head, he saw that once again, Bucky had turned so that his back was to Tony, but his head was still resting on Tony’s forearm. “Bucky?”

“Fuck,” Bucky groaned, long and low, and Tony couldn’t help the way that the sound shot straight to his dick. “What time is it?”

“It is seven in the morning,” FRIDAY said, her voice not quite as chipper as normal, as if she was aware that Tony had a bit of headache from drinking half a bottle of scotch the night before. “The team that is going through the material recovered from the Hydra base has reassembled, and while they are going through it, Ms. Myers has requested that you contact her to give her more guidance on what they should do, as they are unable to finish the task with the current parameters.”

Tony couldn’t help but echo Bucky. “Fuck.” Tugging on Bucky gently, he tried to get him to turn over. “I guess we can’t put off talking about this any longer.”

Bucky sighed and then turned over to face him. “Do you still feel that we need to have other people in this conversation?”

Tony chewed on his lip. “I think now that neither of us are quite so emotional from your _near-death experience_ , we can probably have a civil conversation about it. But, I also think that if we don’t at least have Steve sitting in on it, he’s going to worry that if you come around to my way of thinking that I did something unfair to persuade you, and then we’re just going to end up rehashing the whole thing over again.”

“I guess you have a point.” Bucky leaned closer and brushed a kiss over Tony’s cheek. “Okay, I’m going to my apartment to shower and put on clothes that actually fit. Then we’ll meet with Steve and whoever you want there to get this settled.”

“Bruce,” Tony said firmly. “I want Bruce there, because he’s been helping on the research, and in fact is ahead of me in some ways.”

“Bruce it is.” Bucky sat up. “FRIDAY, can you let Steve and Bruce know that we’d like them to meet us – where?” he asked Tony. “I don’t really want to have this conversation where the rest of the team can interrupt.”

“There’s a small conference room two doors up from where the research team is working. It’s too small for Avengers’ meetings, so it’s rarely used,” Tony said. “FRIDAY, can you ask them to meet us there in about forty-five minutes?”

“Yes, boss,” she said. There was a pause, and then she said, “Message relayed, and they have both agreed.”

“In that case, I guess we need to get up,” Tony said. The two of them climbed out of bed, and Tony walked Bucky to the door to the penthouse. “I’ll see you in about forty minutes,” he said. He wanted to kiss Bucky again, but Bucky seemed to be holding himself stiffly, as if he expected to have to fight Tony already, and he didn’t think it would be welcome.

“See you there,” Bucky said, swinging open the door. Then he sighed, some of the tension leaving his shoulders, and leaned back, brushing a kiss along Tony’s cheek. “I still like you, Tony,” he said. “Even when we don’t agree with each other.”

“Good to know,” Tony said with a small smile. “I still like you, too.”

“Then we’ll definitely be able to work this out,” Bucky said, before he slid out the door and into the waiting elevator.

Tony stood and stared at the elevator for a few moments before he shook himself and closed the door. “FRIDAY, let me know when I have five minutes to get to the meeting,” and then he went to get ready.

After brushing his teeth and a quick shower, he stood in front of the closet and debated what to wear. Years of facing down people who disagreed with him about his goals and ideas made him want to dress up. But he knew that that came from wanting to intimidate others, and one, that would backfire spectacularly, and two, he didn’t want Bucky to do this because he felt he had to. Tony had thought about Bruce’s words during his shower and realized that while he still didn’t really understand where Bucky was coming from, he had to at least try to honor it if he wanted Bucky to feel like Tony respected him.

“Boss, as you requested, this is your five minute warning.”

“Fuck.” Tony reached into his closet and grabbed his AC/DC t-shirt and a pair of jeans. “Let them know that I’m taking a few minutes longer than I planned, and ask Dummy to make me a protein shake to grab on my way.”

“Yes, sir,” she said. A few seconds later she said, “Captain Rogers responded that they expected as much and would be a few minutes late as well.”

“Snarky bastard,” he said. He hurriedly dressed and shoved his feet into a pair of battered sneakers before bolting for the elevator, which FRIDAY had waiting for him. Dummy met him at the lab door, holding a protein drink, which he grabbed and took with him to the meeting room.

Bruce was already waiting for him, reading from one of his omnipresent journals. “Good morning,” he said. “Feeling better this morning?”

“Well, I’m sober,” Tony said, before taking a sip of the shake.

“I don’t understand how you can drink those things,” Bucky said from the door. “Is it true that they’re made with _algae_?”

“Nothing wrong with a little chlorophyll in your diet,” Tony said, but gave Bucky a cautious smile.

Bucky returned it, and then Steve’s hand came down on his shoulder, pushing him into the conference room. “Let’s get this settled,” Steve said, sitting down in one of the chairs around the table. Interestingly enough, he did not take the chair at the head of the table, which Tony appreciated. The rest of them followed suit – Bucky next to Steve and Tony and Bruce on the other side.

Tony wanted to start the conversation, he really did, but he didn’t want Bucky to feel like he was being overrun by Tony any more than he apparently already did. So instead of opening his mouth and inserting his _other _foot, he simply gestured for Bucky to go ahead.__

__For a second, no one said anything, and then Bucky said, “Don’t get me wrong, Tony, I’m grateful for everything you’ve done to try and fix this problem. I just think that we’re investing too many resources in a problem that may have no solution, and I can’t be responsible for that.”_ _

__Tony hesitated, waiting to see if Bucky was going to add anything, and when he didn’t, he sighed and said, “You know, they’re _my_ resources at this point, and I do get to decide how they’re used.”_ _

__“Pepper may disagree with you,” Bucky said with a wince._ _

__“True. But the fact remains that I see this as a worthwhile use of SI resources, and my time. And the Avengers should view it the same way, because if we don’t get your arm working, we’re going to have to pull you out of the field, and we need every member of the team working together.”_ _

__“That’s not quite true,” Steve interjected. “Bucky has skills that don’t rely on him having two arms.”_ _

__“I’ll grant that,” Tony said. “But they’re not his _best_ skills. If that’s really what you want – to be relegated to jobs you can do with one arm, and not able to come with us to watch Steve’s back if it means you’re on the ground - “_ _

__“First off, that’s a low blow,” Bucky said, his voice a little heated. “Second of all, I’ve fought with the arm disabled before. I can still fight even if you take it off.”_ _

__“But can you fight as well?” Tony asked before he thought. The anger and hurt that flashed across Bucky’s face made Tony realize that he’d gone too far._ _

__Before he could try to backpedal, though, Bucky said heatedly, “Okay, why don’t we take the arm off and put the two of us in a ring and I’ll show you just how well I can fight with one arm.”_ _

__Tony knew that, even one-handed, Bucky would probably hand him his ass. He still didn't want to back down. "The fact that you can kick my ass doesn't prove anything other than you're a better fighter than I am. I just - "_ _

__“There’s no call for insulting my abilities!” Bucky looked furious._ _

__In the face of that much anger, Tony forced himself to take a deep breath and back down, even though he still disagreed. “I’m _sorry_ , Bucky,” he said. “You’re right. You’re the best judge of what you can do, not me. I really am just trying to help.”_ _

__Steve leaned over and rested his hand on Bucky’s shoulder. For a moment, it looked as though Bucky was going to shake it off, and then he deflated. "You're not just trying to help - you're trying to take over a puzzle that you can't stand to let go."_ _

__Tony stood up. "If you think that little of me - that you don't factor in this at all, then I don't know why you bothered to show up at my suite last night. I mean, you don't matter, right? Just your arm."_ _

__It was Bucky's turn to wince._ _

__“Here’s the thing, Bucky,” Tony said. “In a way, you're right. Even if you decide that you don’t want me to work on your arm – that you just want it removed and to be done with it entirely – I’m not going to let the research into the faskyx go. It has too many commercially viable applications if I can manage to duplicate it cheaply enough – especially for prosthetics for other people. The medical breakthrough potential alone makes it worthwhile to try and find a way to synthesize it. That's why you came to me, because I'm a mechanic and an engineer and I can find solutions for these things. But research like that takes time, and I have plenty of that. The reason for the rush is because I don't like what it's doing to _you_ , not those hypothetical other people. ”_ _

__Bruce grabbed Tony by the arm and pulled him back into his seat. "Bucky, does it help that other people may benefit from this research? Is it just the speed, or that we're researching it at all?'_ _

__“That does actually help,” Bucky admitted. “And I guess I hadn’t really thought of it that way. It's just that you're using so many resources and people - ”_ _

__“They're my resources and my people. And to be fair, I haven't been actually thinking about the applications for others,” Tony said reluctantly. “At least not consciously. My priority is and remains _you_. The fact that this could help other people is a nice side effect.”_ _

__“You’re not helping your argument,” Steve said._ _

__“No, he’s not,” Bucky said, but he was grinning, and Tony felt something inside him relax. “But he’s being honest, which I can appreciate. And now that I’m not sitting in medical with IVs and an EKG hooked up to me, I can be calmer about this. I have a compromise.”_ _

__“I’m all ears,” Tony said. “Hit me.”_ _

__“I will let you do whatever research you want, using as many people as you want, for one week. I will agree that you can make me a priority for that long. If we don’t have an answer in that time, you let Pepper have her team back and it goes to your regular researchers for them to investigate at a normal pace. If they solve it eventually, great. If not, that’s fine too.”_ _

__Tony stared at Bucky for a long moment, waiting for the other shoe to drop. When Bucky just looked back, he said, “I agree, mostly. My only objection is that that’s not even as long as I had originally, I still have ten days on the original two week clock. I think I should be able to go that long.”_ _

__Bucky was nodding before Tony even finished his sentence. “Agreed.”_ _

__“Thank you,” Tony said. “You’ll see what I can really do when I’m motivated.”_ _

__Grinning, Bucky said, “Well, I’ll just have to keep you motivated then.”_ _

__“Honestly, you do that by breathing,” Tony said with a laugh. “But I wouldn’t turn down the occasional kiss or two.”_ _

__“I think we can do better than that, especially while the arm is turned off.”_ _

__“Speaking of that,” Bruce spoke up. “Should we take it off while Tony works? I can’t imagine that it’s terribly easy to haul around as dead weight.”_ _

__“How hard would it be to get it off?” Steve asked._ _

__“We’ve never looked, so I’m not sure,” Bruce said. “There’s got to be a catch or something to getting it off if it’s been replaced in the last seventy years, though.”_ _

__“It is uncomfortable,” Bucky admitted. “But I’m not sure I want to go taking it off just yet.”_ _

__“I’ll tell you what,” Tony said. “While you guys discuss this, I’m going to go get started on the research and development - I have a ten day deadline I have to beat.”_ _

__Bucky laughed. “I’ll come by the lab later and make sure you haven’t worked your researchers to death.”_ _

__“No death allowed - got it.” Tony pushed back from the table and turned towards the door, before rethinking it and circling the table to get to Bucky. “I’m going to kiss you now if you don’t mind.”_ _

__“Never going to mind that.” Bucky leaned back in his chair and reached up with his real arm, wrapping his hand around the back of Tony’s neck and pulling him down into a deliciously awesome kiss. Far too soon, though, Tony forced himself to break away with one last gentle peck. Biting his lip, he reminded himself that he only had ten days to find a solution. That gave him the impetus to turn away from Bucky and make his way out of the room._ _

__His first stop was the conference room where Pepper’s team was working. They looked considerably more frazzled, but the pile of boxes against the wall was noticeably reduced. “Okay, Sergeant Barnes and I have come to an agreement, and we have a timetable. I have ten very short days to figure out everything we can learn about the faskyx, and either come up with a way to synthesize it or create a workable substitute.”_ _

__“Ten days?” Susan asked, with a glance towards the mountain of boxes. “I don’t even think we’re going to be able to get through all the paper in that time.”_ _

__“Which is why we’re going to add more people,” Tony said. “Each of you came from different SI departments. You are going to let FRIDAY know who you trust from those departments. If they’re on actual crunch, time-sensitive assignments, we won’t pull them but otherwise, between FRIDAY and Ms. Hill, we’ll have them up here today. Also, if you have admin people in your team with great organizational skills, get them up here too. They can at least do the grunt work of sorting the papers into categories. Anything about reprium or faskyx or Sergeant Barnes’ arm needs to be immediately scanned in and sent to FRIDAY for her to bring to my attention.”_ _

__Susan looked a little happier at the idea of adding more people to the problem, and he noticed that several members of the team were already making lists - of people from their departments, he assumed. “If you have problems or questions, you can contact Doctor Banner. If you come across anything that you think I need to know immediately, don’t hesitate. I trust your judgment, folks. Now, I’m going to leave you to it, while I get the hardware people going.”_ _

__“Yes, Tony,” several members of the team chorused, and Tony let himself out of the conference room._ _

__“FRIDAY, locate some other rooms where they can work,” he said out loud. “Each room needs to be equipped with scanners as well as coffee machines. Arrange for regular food runs. I don’t expect twenty-four hours a day from them, but we’re going to minimize downtime.”_ _

__“Yes, Boss,” she said. “Shall I contact Doctor Richards?”_ _

__“Yeah. He’s a dick, but he’s almost as smart as I am,” Tony said. Opening the door to the lab, he found Fitz and Simmons at different tables, discussing… “Are you two arguing caveman versus astronaut?” he asked, a little annoyed._ _

__“Well, yes, while we worked on breaking down the molecular structure of the faskyx,” Simmons said with a blush. “Cavemen would be much stronger, of course, and much more physical - “_ _

__Tony sighed. “Okay, first of all, astronauts are smarter. They’d figure out how to fight using techniques that cavemen can’t anticipate. Secondly, we have a bigger priority.” Using as few words as possible, he went over what he’d already told the research team about their time limits and priorities. “Our highest priority is to find something workable as fast as possible,” he said. “I’ve called Doctor Richards - Simmons, can I trust you to brief him when he gets here?” Maybe if he minimized how much time he spent talking to the man he’d be able to avoid visualizing choking him with his own stretchy arm._ _

__“Of course, Tony,” Simmons said. She paused, and then asked, her voice gentle, “Do you really think you’ll be able to do this in ten days?”_ _

__“I don’t have a choice,” Tony said. “I’ll get it done or die trying. Now, show me what you’ve already figured out.”_ _


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony _really_ needs to sleep. Luckily, Bucky is willing to push the issue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starkbucks prompt O1 - Bucky Bear

Three days later, and Tony was facing a problem that he hadn’t anticipated. There was _too much_ information. Hydra had been doing research on the faskyx for fifty years. Some of it was too stupid for words, and Tony trashed it without hesitation. But several times they had actually seemed to be on an intelligent path, only to have it meander to a stop as one of the people in charge would change priorities of the research teams.

Richards actually seemed to understand the seriousness of the situation, and was keeping the dickishness to a manageable level. Bruce kept everyone focused. Fitz and Simmons worked together seamlessly.

And Tony was no closer to a solution. Admittedly, he still had a week to figure it out, but right now he was so exhausted that his vision was blurring and he couldn’t see the numbers that FRIDAY was projecting.

When someone touched him on the shoulder, he jumped, since he hadn’t heard anyone coming up behind him and FRIDAY hadn’t warned him.

“Hey, calm down,” Bucky said, his hand falling to Tony’s side to brace him upright. “It’s just me.”

Tony hadn’t seen Bucky in three days either, and right now he was being reminded why, because the emptiness of his left sleeve seemed like an accusation to Tony’s eyes. He remembered Bruce saying that they’d decided to remove the arm and that it had come off fairly easily, but he didn’t want to think what would happen if he couldn’t get a new one working.

“Hi,” he said. “I’m, uh, I’m looking through test results. I’m fine.”

“Not right now, you’re not,” Bucky disagreed. “Bruce called me and told me you haven’t slept since I told you you can work on this. I agreed for you to work on it. I didn’t say for you to kill yourself in the process.”

“Tattletale,” Tony said to Bruce, who was on the other side of the lab.

Bruce just smiled at him and moved some data across the screen.

“Tony, you’re no good to anyone if you collapse,” Bucky said. “You need to get some sleep.”

“I’ve slept! Ask FRIDAY!”

“FRIDAY?” Bucky asked. “How _much_ sleep has Tony had in three days, and _where_?”

“He has slept approximately six hours in short naps, mostly at his computer.”

“You’re not supposed to rat me out,” Tony said, spluttering. “You’re supposed to be on _my_ side.”

“I’m sorry, boss, but I was asked a direct question about your health and well-being. The Potts protocols indicate that the question should be answered fully and honestly.” FRIDAY sounded a little smug, and Tony had to admit that it was probably because she’d been trying to get him to sleep for the last twenty-four hours.

“In case you haven’t noticed,” Tony said through gritted teeth, “This is not Pepper.”

“I did observe that, yes,” FRIDAY said in that same smug tone. “But given your developing relationship, I concluded that the same rules applied.”

“They do,” Bucky said. “Thank you, FRIDAY. I’ll take it from here.”

“Thank you, Sergeant Barnes.”

“You need to sleep, Tony. Come on - if you’re falling asleep on your keyboard, you’re not accomplishing anything anyway.”

“Don’t use a keyboard,” Tony said, knowing that he sounded petulant and not really caring. “It’s a hologram.”

“Whatever you say,” Bucky said. His hand slid back up Tony’s arm and gripped his shoulder, tugging at him until he slipped off his stool. “Fact remains that you need to sleep. If you don’t want me to take you to your apartment, we can ask Bruce.”

“Not that I don’t want you.” Tony realized that it was probably pointless to argue and started to walk to the door. He knew that Fitz, Simmons, and Richards were all watching with interest and no small amount of amusement, but he couldn’t really bring himself to care. “Want you too much.”

“Well, good - then we want each other the same amount,” Bucky said. “So I’m going to escort you to your apartment, where you’re going to eat, shower, and sleep. Preferably in that order.”

“Hey - I _have_ been eating.” The elevator was waiting with its door open - a sign that FRIDAY definitely agreed with Bucky about Tony getting out of the lab.

“I notice that you’re not arguing the need for a shower,” Bucky chuckled.

“Well, yeah, I probably do need one of those,” Tony admitted. “How long am I being grounded from the lab for, anyway?”

“Bruce suggested at least eight hours.”

“ _Eight hours_! No way am I losing that much time for _sleep_.” Tony started to turn around and go back to the lab to give Bruce a piece of his mind, but Bucky’s hand tightened on his shoulder, pushing him towards the elevator.

“Yes, you are,” Bucky said. “You’re going to sleep _in a bed_ for eight hours. Then I’ll let you go back to work.”

“Are you at least going to stay with me?” Tony and Bucky got on the elevator, and it started to move upwards without any buttons being pressed or any orders from either of them.

“If you want me to.”

The elevator ride was short, but when it came to a stop, Tony jerked awake from where he was leaning on the wall. Okay, maybe he needed some sleep after all.

There was food set up on the bar - a turkey sandwich, chips, and an apple. Food that could sit out for a few minutes, especially since everyone knew how much he hated mayo. When he started to go around the bar to pour himself a drink, though, Bucky stopped him. “No booze,” he said firmly.

“Half my bloodstream is caffeine at this point, Barnes. I’m not going to be able to sleep without help.” He reached again for the scotch, only to have Bucky take it right out of his hand.

“Bruce switched out your coffee for decaf two hours ago,” he said. “Once you eat and shower, I’m pretty sure I’m going to need Steve up here to carry you to bed.”

“This is why you shouldn’t be limiting how much time I have,” Tony said, giving up on the alcohol and taking a bite of the sandwich. “If you had two working arms, you’d be able to do it yourself.”

“True,” Bucky said. “But I’m not going to let you kill yourself over my arm. So quit your belly aching and eat your food.”

Tony realized how hungry he was, and it only took him a few minutes to wolf down the turkey and the chips. He looked at the apple, and decided that eating it was too much work. He set it on the bar. Maybe he’d eat it when he got let out of detention. “Do I really need to shower?” he asked plaintively.

“I’ve smelled men on the battlefield who stunk less than you do,” Bucky said. “I have no idea what you have all over your arms and shirt, but it’s gross and you need to wash it off.”

Puzzled, Tony looked down and realized that yes, he had something - probably motor oil from when he’d oiled Dummy while trying to organize his thoughts - all over him. Dummy always tried to help.

He stood up and swayed as dizziness washed over him. Okay, maybe not sleeping for three days at a shot wasn’t something he should do anymore.

“I don’t think I can manage a shower,” he said, knowing that he sounded pathetic, and wishing that he was ten years younger. He used to be able to go days without sleep and still go out and hit the craps tables for hours. Right now he felt like something that had been hit by a tank.

Bucky chuckled, but not unkindly. “I’ll help,” he said. He came around the bar and wrapped his arm around Tony’s waist, pressing a kiss to the side of Tony’s face. “Come on - let’s get you to the bathroom.”

Tony was a little ashamed of how much he was leaning on Bucky as they walked, but he didn’t think he would have gotten there any other way. As soon as they got in the bathroom, Bucky propped him up against the sink and went to set the water. “Take off your clothes,” he said.

It took Tony longer than he’d care to admit to figure out that it didn’t matter if he got whatever was on the front of his shirt in his hair because he was getting right in the shower. But by the time Bucky was satisfied with the temperature, he’d managed to get his shirt and shoes off and was wrestling with his fly. Bucky didn’t say anything - he just started to strip out of his own clothes.

“No one mentioned that getting to see you naked was the reward I was going to get for being bullied out of my lab,” Tony said as he forgot about his pants in the interest of staring as Bucky shoved his pants down and off. While he watched, Bucky gripped the hem of his t-shirt for a moment before taking a deep breath and pulling it off. Tony was aware that there was some sort of significance there, but his brain was too full of cotton to puzzle out what it was.

“More than that,” Bucky said. “If you shower and sleep at least eight hours like Bruce suggested, I might be interested in giving you a blowjob in the morning.”

“But I thought - no sex?” Tony said. He really did need sleep; his brain felt like a hamster on a wheel, spinning in place and getting nowhere. “We’d agreed, no sex until your arm is fixed.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, I don’t have it on right now, so I don’t have to worry about hurting you with it,” Bucky said. Even as tired as Tony was he could hear the forced casualness in his tone. Bucky wasn’t as good with being one-armed as he was pretending to be. “So the reasons for no sex don’t apply.”

Tony went back to getting his pants off. He was torn. On the one hand, he _really_ wanted to have sex with Bucky. On the other hand, he didn’t want Bucky to realize that he could use it as a carrot to control how much time he spent in the lab. He needed to _fix_ this.

Finally the jeans slid down and he kicked them to the side. “I don’t - you can’t change my mind by having sex with me,” he said, trying to force himself to make as much sense as possible. “It’s not fair.”

“I’m not doing that,” Bucky said.

When Tony just stared at him for a long minute, Bucky sighed and said, “I have to admit it crossed my mind. But I promised you ten days and you still have seven. I’m not going to break my word. I just thought that a blowjob would be fun.”

That sounded reasonable, so Tony nodded and moved past Bucky to step into the shower. Somehow Bucky had picked the perfect temperature. It was warm enough that he wasn’t going to be startled awake, without being so warm that he would fall asleep standing up.

Bucky followed him into the shower, and before Tony could focus enough to grab a washcloth, he already had one and was starting to lather it up. “You worry about your hair, I’ll take care of everything else,” Bucky said.

Tony wanted to argue that he was a grown man who could wash himself, thank you. But he was too tired for a battle, so he grabbed the shampoo and started to scrub at his hair. The touch of the washcloth to his chest startled him a little, but Bucky’s touch was firm enough not to tickle, and he groaned as sweat and dirt was wiped away with long strokes.

He finished shampooing his hair long before Bucky finished, but when he went to try and take the washcloth away from him, Bucky shook his head. “Let me do this,” he said. “It’s the least that I can do.”

“You don’t owe me,” Tony mumbled, but he stopped struggling to get his hands on the cloth. “You don’t owe anyone anything.”

“I know, Tony,” Bucky said with a chuckle. “You and Steve keep telling me that. How about I just want to do this? It gives me an excuse to get my hand all over you.”

“Mmm, lechery, I like it,” Tony said. He tried to give a grin to match, but he was so tired that he was pretty sure it looked more like a grimace.

For a few minutes, he let his mind wander, moving as Bucky instructed but otherwise he just let the white noise of the shower drift over him. He hadn’t been this tired in a very long time. When Bucky turned off the water, and handed him a towel, it took him a few seconds to figure out what he needed to do with it.

As soon as he was dried off, he stumbled off towards the bed, not really paying attention to whether or not Bucky was following. He was solely focused on getting horizontal before he fell over.

Crawling into the bed, he curled up, vaguely glad that he’d managed to land with his head on the pillow. The bed dipped as Bucky climbed in as well. When Bucky pressed close to his back, Tony reached back and patted at his hip. “Sleep now,” he said.

He fell asleep to the sound of Bucky’s chuckle.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story finally earns its rating. Plus Tony gets good news from Coulson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starkbucks prompt: G5 Rise and Shine

The sensation of a hand stroking his cock brought him to wakefulness slowly and gently. “Wha – oh, Bucky,” he murmured as the events of the night before came back to him. “Oh, that’s nice.”

“Good morning, sunshine,” Bucky said with a soft laugh. “Feel better?”

Tony didn’t want to admit it, but he didn’t want to lie, either. “Yeah, a lot. How long was I asleep?”

“I promised to wake you up in eight hours.” Bucky’s hand tightened slightly, moving a little faster.

“Mmm, okay.” Tony stretched, arching into Bucky’s touch. “Fuck, you’re good at that,” he said.

“Some things really are universal,” Bucky said. “I promised you a blowjob though – wouldn’t you rather have that?”

“I’ll take whatever you feel like giving me,” Tony said. “But I certainly won’t turn one down.”

Bucky shifted so that he could lean over Tony and press his mouth to Tony’s. Tony kissed him back eagerly, one hand coming up to wrap behind Bucky’s neck and pulling him close. When Bucky’s tongue swept into Tony’s mouth, he didn’t even try to hide the groan that that pulled from him.

He would have been perfectly content to just kiss Bucky for a while, but when Bucky pulled back and started to slide down Tony’s body, he whimpered. “Fuck.”

Bucky lifted his head and met Tony’s eyes. “Not this morning but soon,” he said, and Tony had to reach down and clamp his hand around the base of his cock or he was going to come as soon as Bucky got his mouth on him.

The awkward way that Bucky was balanced on three points did unhappy things in Tony’s head, so he closed his eyes so that he couldn’t look. That meant that when Bucky slid the head of Tony’s cock into his mouth, it was a surprise. “Oh, Bucky,” Tony groaned.

He couldn’t help it – he had to touch. So he started blindly patting at Bucky’s head and shoulders, only to have Bucky suddenly stop and pull back. “Don’t,” he said.

Tony opened his eyes, and realized that he’d been touching right over the socket where Bucky’s arm was supposed to be. “Sorry.” He started to pull his hands away entirely, only to have Bucky grab one and put it in his hair.

“You can touch me. Just not there,” Bucky said, his voice soft.

There was a little voice in Tony’s head that wanted to shout, “See, you’re not okay with this!” The rest of his brain hammered that part into silence. “Got it,” he said instead, running his fingers through Bucky’s hair.

Bucky tipped his head so that he could press his cheek against Tony’s hand, and then he slid his mouth down over Tony’s cock again. This time, Tony couldn’t help but watch as Bucky took every inch slow and steady.

“Oh, god, you’re good,” Tony gasped out. “That’s so nice.”

Bucky hummed, and Tony had to fight the urge to thrust up into the vibrations. Tony had no idea what Bucky was doing with his tongue, but between that and the gentle suction, plus the sexual frustration of the last few weeks, this was going to be the fastest blowjob since he learned what they were. “Christ,” he groaned. “Bucky, oh, god, Bucky – so good.”

When Bucky started to move faster, Tony clenched his fists, trying to regain some control, and accidentally grabbed a handful of Bucky’s hair. Bucky made a startled sound, and Tony immediately let go, trying to untangle his fingers without pulling more. “Sorry,” he said. “Didn’t mean –“

Bucky pulled off with a slurp. “Feels good. Don’t stop,” he said, and then he went right back to blowing Tony’s mind.

Cautiously, Tony pulled on Bucky’s hair, and when Bucky smiled around the mouthful of cock he had, he pulled harder. This time it was met with a groan from Bucky, and Tony could see him humping the mattress between Tony’s thighs. “You like that?” he asked.

Bucky nodded as well as he could.

“If you don’t come against my sheets, I’ll blow you in a minute,” Tony said with a little laugh.

Bucky whimpered, but his hips stilled. He also redoubled his efforts in blowing Tony, and Tony wasn’t sure how much more he was going to be able to take. “I’m getting close,” he said. “If you don’t want me to come in your mouth – “

The sound that Bucky made was definitely determined negation. He sucked harder, and Tony gave up on any pretense of making this last any longer. With a loud moan, he let go, coming so hard that his toes curled and his back bowed. Bucky sucked him through it, licking him clean as he jerked from aftershocks.

When he was too sensitive to stand any more, he gently pushed Bucky away. Bucky looked up and licked his lips, definitely looking very satisfied with himself. “Good?” he asked, his voice a little hoarse.

“You need to ask?” Tony asked.

“Well, yeah – it’s the first blowjob I’ve given in seventy years,” Bucky said.

Tony heard what he said, but he couldn’t make any sense of it. “I’m not sure whether to be surprised that you haven’t given one since you got away from Hydra.”

Bucky burst out laughing. “Consider yourself privileged, then, Stark. You’re the first person I’ve been interested in having sex with since World War II.”

“Well, what can I say in that case but thank you?” Tony said.

“You’re welcome. Now, you said something about blowing me?”

“So I did. Switch places with me?”

It took a bit of squirming by both of them, but eventually Bucky was on his back with Tony between his spread legs. His uncut cock was red and leaking precome from the slit, the foreskin pulled back.

Tony wrapped his hand around the shaft and slid it up and down. He’d almost forgotten how much fun it was to play with an uncut cock. Bucky made a soft sound, cut off but distinct. Looking up, Tony had to smile at the way that Bucky was biting his lip, his eyes wide in his face. “What? Want me to quit just playing around?” he asked.

“Please,” Bucky said. “It’s not going to take much.”

“I bet, if it’s been seventy years since you _got_ a blow job,” Tony said.

“About that, yeah. Hydra wasn’t real big on letting me have _any_ fun,” Bucky said.

“Buzzkills. Probably best that we kill them all,” Tony said, but didn’t tease any more than that. Instead he licked up the side of Bucky’s cock and swirled his tongue around the head, probing lightly at the slit. Then he opened his mouth wider and took him as deep as he possibly could at this angle.

Tony had a brief, irreverent thought about whether or not Bucky’s size was enhanced by the version of the serum that he’d gotten, but then he was too busy sucking not to care.

Bucky had good manners. He wasn’t thrusting, though his hips were moving in tiny, uncontrolled jerks. He didn’t grab at Tony’s hair, or try to control the blowjob at all. And he certainly gave great feedback, moans and whimpers as Tony did his absolute best to drive him absolutely out of his mind.

“Fuck, Tony,” Bucky said, his voice a husky whisper. “Please, don’t stop.”

Tony had no intention of stopping, not when it got him this gorgeous man who begged so prettily. Instead he shifted his head, trying to get Bucky’s cock at the right angle, and then did his best to swallow him to the root.

“Christ!” Bucky shouted, his hips coming up in one aborted thrust. “Oh, my god.”

Tony couldn’t smile with his mouth stuffed full of cock, but he could _swallow_ , so he did. That got him another shout, this one inarticulate and mostly full of vowel sounds, and Bucky’s cock pulsed in his mouth, shooting hard enough that if Tony hadn’t been expecting it he probably would have choked.

He continued to suck as he slid up Bucky’s cock, finally releasing the head with a pop. He looked up, and saw that Bucky was staring at the ceiling, his chest heaving. He didn’t even bother to resist - he propped himself up on his elbow and said, “So, good?”

“Remind me why we waited so long?” Bucky asked.

“Something something… arm not working… something something… defective pressure sensor,” Tony said, laughing a little.

“Oh, yeah. Well, as long as it’s disconnected, maybe we should make that part of our daily routine. You know, eat, brush your teeth, blow each other, sleep…”

Tony shifted so that he wasn’t between Bucky’s legs and slid up the bed so that he was lying on Bucky’s right side. “I’d love that. But I’ve got this completely unreasonable partner who has given me a time limit on fixing his arm so that he can balance on all fours while I fuck him, so…”

Bucky’s eyes glazed over a little and he licked his lips, only to shake his head suddenly. “Hey, we agreed. No emotional blackmail.”

“I don’t remember agreeing to that,” Tony said. “I agreed that it was bad, but I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it.”

Bucky snorted. “Semantics,” he said. “Let’s not argue - it’s ruining my afterglow.”

“Fair enough,” Tony said. “And on that note, I should get cleaned up and go back to the lab. I bet with me gone, nothing got done last night.”

“Probably not,” Bucky agreed, sounding completely calm about the possibility. “I’m pretty sure that Bruce intended to chase everyone out once we’d gotten you out.”

“I should have known that you were plotting against me with my very own science bro,” Tony said, but he couldn’t actually be angry. It wasn’t like he expected anyone else to keep his hours, and maybe they’d do better with a break.

“Yep, plotting to keep you hale and hearty for a long time,” Bucky said. “But I can see that you’re itching to get back to the lab, so I’ll let you go. If I find out that you haven’t taken a break in forty-eight hours, I’ll be back to get you.”

“And if I do take a break sooner than that?” Tony asked.

“Then I’ll just have to find a suitable reward,” Bucky said with a lewd wink.

“I’ll try to remember that,” Tony said. He pressed a kiss to the corner of Bucky’s mouth and then rolled out of the bed. Standing, he stretched, feeling how his back and neck muscles were sore from bending over computer screens for three days.

He went to the closet and grabbed a change of clothes, and then went to the bathroom to clean himself up. He had to laugh at his hair, which was standing straight up from him going to bed with it wet, and he did the best he could to tame it with a comb, before giving it up as a lost cause and getting dressed.

When he went back out into the bedroom, he found Bucky still in bed, his arm behind his head, the sheet pulled up to his waist. He looked like something out of one Tony’s wet dreams. “You’re trying to tempt me,” he said.

“Nah. Just a reminder that you get rewards for breaks, and for not sleeping at your computer,” Bucky responded. But he slid out of the bed and padded towards Tony, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Go, do your mechanic stuff.”

Tony kissed him back, and then went to the elevator to go back to the workshop. By the time he got there, the whole team was back, but they all looked noticeably more rested, and Tony had to admit that Bucky and Bruce made for a dangerous team.

“All right,” he said, clapping his hands together. “Let’s see what we’ve got. FRIDAY?”

“Yes, Boss?”

“Collate all the information collected so far from the research teams. Following the patterns that I’ve set over the last three days, toss out anything obviously garbage, and outline anything that looks remotely interesting. You got that?”

“Sure. Not a problem.” A holographic screen appeared to one side of the lab and started to scroll information faster than Tony could actually read it.

“Everyone who’s not an AI, let me hear what you’ve got.”

Fitz and Simmons talked over each other as they broke down the information they’d managed to gather over the last few days. There were some interesting bits, but at the end of it, it still boiled down to they were limited with what they could do without samples of the unadulterated faskyx. Attempts to break it down chemically had failed – clionium was just too good at integrating as an alloy. When looking at the alloy, it was impossible to figure the actual molecular structure.

Unfortunately, Bruce hadn’t had much more luck, since the mechanism that the metal used to convey electrical impulses still eluded him.

And while Richards was being less of a dick than usual, he didn’t have any answers either.

“So, what I’m hearing is that we have enough of the alloy to make some new pieces, but as they burn out, we’re screwed unless we can get samples of the pure faskyx?”

“Unfortunately, it appears that way,” Richards said. “It’s a pity, since I’ve seen Sergeant Barnes in action and that arm is a work of beauty.”

Tony bit his tongue so as not to yell at Richards that Bucky was more than just his arm. It wouldn’t do any good anyway, because Richards was more oblivious than Tony.

Simmons spoke up then. “Wasn’t Coulson sending someone to see if the could get their hands on some faskyx in Russia?”

“How the hell did I forget that?” Tony asked. “It’s probably too soon to expect anything, but it’s worth a phone call. FRIDAY, connect me to Coulson.”

FRIDAY didn’t bother to acknowledge him, but a ringing sound echoed through the lab. It was answered with a brisk, “Coulson.”

“Hey, Agent,” Tony said. “Just thought I’d call and check in on the spy side of the house.”

“Aren’t you a little busy right now?” Coulson asked.

“I am, but I’m hoping that you might have word from a little bird about a source of faskyx.” Tony picked up one of the scattered pieces of the alloy that was scattered around the lab.

“Zaitseva?” Coulson asked. “Not yet, but she’s due a check in in about four hours. As soon as we hear from her, I’ll pass it on to you.”

“Not going to keep your secret agent stuff secret, are you?” Tony asked, trying hard not to sound plaintive.

“While I don’t tell you everything that SHIELD gets up to these days,” Coulson said, “this has a direct impact on the Avengers, and on your project. I’m not going to hide any information about it from you.”

“I guess that’s the best I can ask for.”

“It really is, so if there’s nothing else, I’m going to go back to breakfast with Clint, and you’ll hear from me in a few hours.”

“What is it between the two of you? You both seem determined to make me think about things that are best kept away from me.”

Coulson laughed, and then hung up the phone.

It was annoying that Tony was dependent on waiting four hours for possible news, but it was the only thing he had. In the meantime, he took the research the team had been doing and reshuffled it, so that everyone was looking at a new piece. “Let’s see if this shakes something loose,” he said.

The piece that Tony ended up with was from Richards, and it showed his fingerprints all over it. Reed obviously forgot that there was an actual person being impacted by this, based on the way that “the subject this” and the “the arm” was scattered through the notes that he’d put together, but there were a few bits and pieces that Tony could match up with his own work.

He even thought that he might be starting to see a possible shape in the molecule of faskyx that was forming in his head. Hydra’s research at least gave him an atomic weight and some of the other features of the metal, such as the utter ease that it melded with clionium and more detail about how it conducted electrical energy. He wondered once again what had inspired them to try it out in a prosthetic in the first place. Not that it actually mattered, really – it was an idle thought at first.

Then he picked up a chunk of the alloy again and the thought came to the forefront of his brain. “FRIDAY, bring up all of the conduction reports from Hydra and anything that we’ve been able to figure out.”

“Sure thing, Boss,” she said, and then the screen in front of him was filled with overlapping documents. He started to go through them with more care, not sure exactly what he was looking for, but certain he’d be able to recognize it when he saw it.

He was still narrowing down information when FRIDAY spoke up. “Boss, Director Coulson is requesting entrance to the lab.”

A quick glance at the clock showed that it had been about three hours since his earlier conversation. “Let him in.”

“Stark,” Coulson said. “I’ve got some news.” With his bland expression, Tony didn’t know whether to get excited or frustrated.

“Well?” He twirled his hands to try and get Coulson to continue.

A small smile crossed his face. “We’ve heard from Zaitseva. Apparently when Hydra was looking for more faskyx, they never bothered to check the National Museum of the Motherland, located in Moscow.”

“You’re fucking kidding me,” Tony said. “They have some?”

“More than that, for certain… considerations, they are willing to release it to us.”

Old Tony would have jumped at it without thought. But years of Steve being after him to think more about the ramifications of his actions, and the knowledge that he wanted Bucky still talking to him after this was all over made him pause. “What considerations?” he asked.

“If we find a way to synthesize it, or create an alternative with the same capabilities, they want access so they can use it for prosthetics in their own country. They are not asking for the formula, or even for it for free, but at cost.”

Tony was impressed and wondered what the original demand was and who had done the actual negotiations. “SI has a policy of wide release of medical advances,” he said out loud. “This definitely fits in that category. If you don’t think that they’re trying to get away with something in particular, I agree on behalf of SI.”

“I thought you’d say that, and a courier is on their way from Poland to Moscow. They should be landing in Moscow in about ninety minutes, and as soon as they have the samples they’ll be on their way here. Based on flight schedules and times, they’ll be here by tomorrow morning.”

“Oh, thank god,” Tony said. “What can I give Zaitseva as a reward?”

“You don’t need to buy her, Tony,” Coulson said kindly. “She already works for us.”

“But she didn’t have to go to Russia for SHIELD – she went for me and my…” Tony hesitated, not sure how exactly to identify Bucky.

“Bucky is an Avenger, Stark,” Coulson said. “Part of SHIELD’s mission is support of the team. Besides, we pay our people very well.”

“I still think – “

“Seriously, Tony, let it go. Now, I’m going to let you get back to your research. As soon as our courier lands, the samples will be picked up from the airport and brought to you.”

“Really, thank you,” Tony said. “Hopefully once that’s in hand some of this will start to make more sense.”

“We can hope,” Coulson said, and let himself out of the lab.

Tony turned back to his screen, but his mind was whirling and he found it impossible to focus on the information there. He knew that he’d been going somewhere with the information that he’d gotten together. “FRIDAY, analyze these documents and see what points of commonality they have. See if there’s any indication of early, pre-Bucky experiments, and what made them think to try this in the first place.”

“There are several hundred documents from the USSR experimentation, Boss,” FRIDAY said. “Many of them predating their use in Sergeant Barnes. Can you narrow your field somewhat?”

“If I could do that, I’d know what I was looking for,” Tony said, annoyed with himself. “All right, how about this. What did they try to do with it first, before they started sticking it in people?”

“Analyzing,” FRIDAY said.

While FRIDAY did her thing, Tony looked around the room and saw that Richards had stepped away, and that Fitz had his head down on the table. A glance at the time in the corner of the screen showed that it was after seven. Normally he’d just brew another pot of coffee and keep going, but he was seriously hopeful that the samples would bring with it some inspiration in how to proceed. And until he had it in hand, he wasn’t going to be able to do any of the multiple tests he’d already started planning for it.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony got some good news. So he wants to take an evening with Bucky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starkbucks prompt O4 Takeout

“Okay, fine,” he said out loud, slapping his hands down on the lab bench.

Fitz jerked upright and fell off his chair with a loud thump. “Ow,” came up from the floor.

Simmons stood up and helped Fitz get up. “Tony?” she asked as she pulled him to his feet.

“I know that we just took a break last night, but since we got some honest to god good news, I’m kicking everyone out for the evening, since I expect the next few nights to be long.”

Tony laughed quietly to himself as everyone hustled out of the lab. “FRIDAY, send the research teams home as well. They need a break too.”

“Sure thing, Boss,” she said.

“Can you tell me where Bucky is?”

“Sergeant Barnes is currently in the common living room, playing Mario Kart against Agent Barton,” she said.

“Good, good,” Tony said. “You keep working on those analyses. I’ll be back tomorrow morning.”

“Have a good night, Boss.”

Humming to himself, he decided against taking the elevator. He needed to do something to stretch his legs, and a couple of flights of stairs sounded like just the ticket. It was only three flights up to the living quarters.

He knew that just about every member of the team would have passed him on the way up, but he made it without panting, and let himself into the team quarters. Even from the stairway, he could hear the echoes of Bucky and Clint trash-talking each other. From the sound of it, the challenge to Clint was that he was only allowed to use one hand on the controller to compensate for Bucky’s missing prosthetic. It didn’t seem to be holding either of them back by much.

Sneaking up on this particular group of people was not only very difficult, it was potentially deadly, so he didn’t try to be quiet in his approach. It turned out that just about the whole team was there - missing only Bruce, who was probably down on his own floor getting some well deserved quiet time.

Natasha looked at Tony and raised an eyebrow. From anyone else, that would have been a fullblown statement of shock, and Tony had to admire the elegance and simplicity of it.

Steve, on the other hand, looked up and said, “What - Did you find something, Tony?”

That attracted everyone’s attention, and neither Bucky nor Clint noticed when their cars went off the road. “No, but we did get some good news. SHIELD has gotten their hands on some unadulterated faskyx, and I’ll have it tomorrow. Since I figured that we were going to have some very long days once it was in the lab, I sent everyone home early. I was hoping I might steal Bucky for a while.”

“I suppose I can come with you,” Bucky said. He handed the controller to Thor who took it with a grin that did nothing to hide the fact that he was an utter shark at video games. “Did you have something in mind?”

“Dinner?” Tony said. “I’m starving.”

The two of them headed towards the elevators to a general chorus of people saying good night. “Are we going out or staying in?”

“I’d like to take you out,” Tony said. “But honestly, I’m too tired and wired to be great company. I should have left you playing Kart.”

“How about this. We’ll order something in - something fast. And then I’ll see what I can do to help you sleep.”

“Anything but pizza.” Tony pressed the button for the penthouse. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I want something with actual nutrition.”

“How about sushi?”

“Sounds good,” Tony said. “I don’t eat sea urchin, but just about anything else is fair game. FRIDAY will help you order – I need a shower.”

“Go on, I’ll be in in a minute,” Bucky said.

Looking forward to seeing Bucky naked and wet, Tony headed to the bathroom. Behind him, he could hear the muted tones of Bucky talking to FRIDAY – presumably arranging for dinner. He dismissed it from what he was actively thinking about and shed his clothes as he walked to the bathroom. By the time he got there, FRIDAY had turned on the shower and set it to the perfect temperature.

He got in and let the hot water pound into his shoulders, relieving the tension that he was keeping there. It also meant he was facing the door as Bucky came in, carrying an armful of his clothes. “You know, just because you’re a billionaire is no excuse for you to be a slob,” he said.

“In fact, it is. I’m pretty sure I have staff that cleans up after me. But fine – you’ve already gathered them up. Dump them in a corner somewhere with yours and climb in here.”

Bucky laughed and dropped the pile of clothes in the corner and then started to shed his own. This time Tony was awake and aware enough to actually look at the shoulder socket where his arm should have been.

It was mostly smooth, other than a groove where the arm presumably latched into place. And there was a small bundle of wires that were capped off, sticking out of the top of the joint. He had no idea how he had been so out of it that he hadn’t noticed it before.

“Done staring yet?” Bucky asked roughly, and only then did Tony realize that he was being exceedingly rude.

“Sorry,” Tony said, turning his gaze to Bucky’s face. “It’s just…”

“Ugly, I know,” Bucky said.

“No, it’s surprisingly not ugly. Maybe not so surprisingly – your hotness knows no bounds. But I wasn’t looking last night or this morning, and it caught me by surprise.”

Bucky laughed a little. “Fair enough,” he said. “Can I come in now?”

“Please. How long till dinner gets here?”

Bucky stepped into the shower stall. “FRIDAY says thirty-five minutes. Time for a decent shower. Not enough time for another blowjob.”

“I was thinking that after we eat you might fuck me, actually,” Tony said, and then greatly enjoyed the look of surprise on Bucky’s face.

“Uh, really?” Bucky asked. “I mean, I want to, of course I want to, but I wasn’t going to ask for that.”

“And now you don’t have to ask, because I’m volunteering,” Tony said, grabbing a washcloth and the soap and starting to scrub down. “It works out well, since I really _love_ being fucked, and I’m assuming you like to do the fucking, at least some of the time.”

“I’m pretty much equal opportunity there, actually,” Bucky said. “But if you’re in the mood for it, I’m definitely willing.”

“So, get clean, we’ll eat, and then we’ll fuck. Sounds like a good solid plan for the evening to me. And tomorrow I’ll have the samples of the faskyx so that I can finally figure out a solution so you can have your arm back.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Tony. Let’s get through tonight first.”

“You’re making it sound like it’ll be an effort on my part to get fucked,” Tony said with a laugh. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted this.”

“Not as long as I have,” Bucky said back. “You didn’t even realize I was hitting on you at first.”

“I’ll give you that.” Tony stepped back into the spray to rinse his hair. “But I’m not _blind_. It’s not like I hadn’t ever _wondered_.”

“That’s good to know.” Bucky nudged Tony out of the way so that he could rinse himself off as well. “You about ready to get out?”

“If it gets me closer to food and sex I am,” Tony said.

FRIDAY turned off the water, and Bucky looked up at the ceiling. “You know, that’s really disconcerting when she does things without you telling her to.”

“You never knew JARVIS – only Vision. He was even more bossy than FRIDAY is. He used to make the water run cold if he thought I’d spent too much time daydreaming in the shower.”

“I like Vision,” Bucky said. “But I can see how that would be annoying.”

“Yeah. It’s too bad that he’s off chasing down Ultron allies. I could really use him in the lab, but he’s the only one of us that Ultron couldn't successfully hide from.”

“He didn't hide from you, either,” Bucky said, his voice subdued.

Tony reached out and clasped a hand on Bucky’s shoulder. “Hey, I’ve got an important project right here. And if Vision needs me, he knows how to reach me. But he knows how Ultron thought. He’ll be fine without me.”

“If you’re sure.”

Giving Bucky’s shoulder a squeeze, Tony said, “I’m sure. Now, let’s throw on some clothes and see if dinner is here yet."


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Bucky actually have sex. It goes surprisingly well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starkbucks G4 Why are you so nice to me?

Once dinner was eaten, Tony went over to the bar and poured himself a scotch before holding up the bottle in question. “Sure, I’ll take some,” Bucky said.

Pouring a second glass, he carried them back over to the couch, setting down the glasses on the table amid the detritus of more sushi that Tony had thought they’d be able to eat. He’d been proven wrong.

“I don’t know about you, but I need to digest for a few minutes before we engage in strenuous physical activity,” Tony said.

“I could make a comment about old men needing post-dinner naps,” Bucky said with a grin. He only smiled wider when Tony gave his arm a shove in response.

“I’ll show you an old man,” Tony said. “Just you wait.”

“Drink your scotch, old man.” Bucky picked up his own glass and took a sip. “Damn, that’s some fine booze there.”

“You’ve had it before,” Tony said.

“Yes, but the fact remains that it’s pretty damn good. A lot better than the rotgut that Steve and I drank in the thirties and forties, at any rate.”

Tony gave an exaggerated shudder. “I can only imagine.”

“No, you really can’t. Still, that was better than bathtub gin.”

“Weren’t you awfully young to be drinking when Prohibition ended?”

“Not _that_ young. Besides, when I was a kid they really didn’t enforce the minimum age the way they do now,” Bucky said, taking another sip. “But I’m not really interested in talking about ancient history.”

Tony grinned at him, knowing that it made him look a little lustful. In fact, that was exactly the message he wanted to send. “I’m still too full to screw, but there’s no rule saying we can’t sit here and make out on the couch for a while.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Bucky set his glass down on the table and turned to face Tony full- on. “C’mere, you.”

It only took Tony a fraction of a second to set his own drink down as well. Leaning in, he tilted his head just a little and pressed his mouth to Bucky’s. 

They both made small sounds at the contact, and Bucky opened his mouth almost immediately. Tony saw no reason not to take him up on the invitation, and slid his tongue into Bucky’s mouth, letting it twist and tangle with Bucky’s. 

Bucky groaned into his mouth, and Tony swallowed the sound eagerly. He wanted to know what else would cause those heated sounds, so he pulled out all the stops. He nibbled on Bucky’s lower lip before sliding his tongue back in to touch Bucky’s again. The kiss went on and on, and just as Tony thought he was going to go out of his mind, Bucky turned the tables.

Bucky’s hand slid into Tony’s hair, gripping it lightly and pulling back so that Tony’s head was tilted. Bucky broke away from Tony’s mouth, kissing his way down Tony’s throat and making him whimper. “God,” Tony said. “Don’t - don’t stop.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t plan to,” Bucky said, his lips so close to Tony’s skin that he could practically read the way they shaped the words. He nipped at Tony’s neck, right above the collar of his t-shirt. “How about you lose this?”

“You got it,” Tony said, grabbing the back of his t-shirt and pulling it off over his head. Tossing it to the side, he spread his arms, making an offering of himself. “Is this what you want?” Tony said. 

“Damn straight,” Bucky said, lowering his head so that he could bite and suck at Tony’s collarbone.

“Nothing straight going on here, Bucky,” Tony said with a shaky laugh. It was amazing how the simplest things got to him when it was Bucky doing them.

“Ha-ha-fucking-ha,” Bucky said, but he sounded amused, so Tony was going to tuck that into the win column. His hand came up and tweaked one of Tony’s nipples. “How about, what I want is you, naked, and in a bed where I can fuck you.”

“Mmm,” Tony thought about that mental image, compared it to how full he was still feeling, and decided that they’d waited long enough. “Okay. Take off your clothes and we’ll make that a reality right now.”

“About fucking time.” Bucky nipped one more time at Tony’s chest before pulling back and standing up.

Tony had to wait for some of the blood in his cock to return to his brain before he could safely follow suit. He took a couple of deep breaths before rocketing to his feet and following Bucky back to the bedroom, stripping out of his pants as he went.

Tony had to stop and watch as Bucky pulled his shirt off over his head one-handed, his mouth going dry as Bucky’s powerfully muscled chest came into view. He’d seen it before – that morning in fact – but he didn’t think that that was ever going to get old.

“Getting cold feet?” Bucky asked. Only then did Tony realize that he was staring at Bucky and making no move towards the bed.

“Hardly. Just trying to figure out how we’re going to do this,” Tony said, not wanting to admit just how distracted he’d gotten.

“Just get on the bed, Stark. I’ve got a plan.”

“Far be it from me to get between a man and his plan,” Tony said, hurrying past Bucky and climbing into the bed. “You want me face up or face down?”

“Face up to start,” Bucky said with no hesitation, and Tony blinked. Clearly the line about having a plan wasn’t actually just a line. 

Flipping over so that he was lying on his back, he spread his arms and gestured towards Bucky. “Come on over,” he said. “What are you waiting for?”

“Nothing,” Bucky said, and then he pounced, ending up straddling Tony’s waist and balanced on three points. His mouth came down on Tony’s, kissing him fiercely, and leaving Tony breathless. 

He groaned at the feeling of Bucky’s naked body pressed so closely to his own. “Fuck,” he moaned into Bucky’s mouth, his hips pushing up to get more contact. 

Bucky pressed him back down, pinning him in place with his lower body. “Hold still,” he said.

Tony gasped but fought to do as he’d been told. He gasped again when Bucky moved away from his mouth, but it turned to a groan as he moved down Tony’s body, kissing his shoulders and then his chest. The feeling of Bucky sliding his body against Tony’s overheated cock as he moved was intense, and Tony really had to work not to respond in kind.

At least Bucky seemed to realize how hard Tony was working, because he was muttering, “So good, so hot,” between kisses. The praise and the sensations were combining to make Tony lightheaded. As Bucky moved further down, his mouth pressing to Tony’s stomach and down to one hip, Tony couldn’t help but beg. “Please, Bucky - Put your mouth on me. _Please_.”

It had exactly the opposite effect that Tony wanted, because Bucky sat up, removing all that delicious pressure from Tony’s cock. “My mouth _was_ on you,” Bucky said with a smirk.

“You know what I meant,” Tony said. “You were so close to my cock; please suck it.”

“Nah,” Bucky said. “I’ve done that already. I want to try something new.” 

Tony whimpered, but when Bucky started to shift so that he was kneeling between Tony’s legs, Tony cooperated eagerly. Spreading his legs wide, he held his breath as Bucky lay down between them, shoving his shoulder up under one thigh and urging Tony to spread even further.

He had an idea where this might be going, but he didn’t say anything, not wanting to take the risk that Bucky might stop again. Bucky lifted his head and shot a look at Tony, giving him a wink, before he lowered his head and pressed a soft kiss to Tony’s balls. 

Then he moved lower, kissing Tony’s perineum and further back, until he was kissing right over Tony’s hole. “Oh, holy hell,” Tony gasped. Bucky chuckled, his breath warm right _there_ , and then he licked and Tony cried out. 

He had always loved being rimmed, and for someone who was seventy years out of practice, Bucky was very, very good at it. He licked and sucked and nipped at Tony’s entrance until Tony was groaning continuously, only then sliding the tip of his tongue inside.

“Fuck,” Tony groaned. “Oh, god, don’t stop.”

Bucky didn’t respond. Instead he kept up the thorough tongue- fucking. Tony clenched his fists in the bedding, resisting the urge to move up into Bucky’s touch. The last thing he wanted was to give Bucky any reason to _stop_. 

By the time Bucky pulled away and sat up, Tony felt like he was one large exposed nerve of pleasure. His cock was throbbing, and his ass felt empty as Bucky pulled back his arm to wipe off his mouth. “Good?” he asked.

“Like you need to ask?” Tony asked, voice cracking. “So _fucking_ good, Bucky. I’d beg you not to stop, but I guess there’s more to your plan?”

“Yeah. Lube?” 

“Oh. Yeah. One sec.” Tony twisted, trying not to displace Bucky. Thankfully he was lying close enough to the nightstand to be able to reach into the drawer, even if it was a stretch. He grabbed the tube and a couple of condoms and relaxed back on the bed, holding out his hand to offer Bucky the fruits of his labor.

Bucky took the tube, but left Tony holding the condoms for the moment. Tony closed his eyes, already looking forward to feeling that he’d get when Bucky started to open him up, only to realize that an awful lot of time had passed without Bucky moving. Opening his eyes, he looked at Bucky to see that he was glaring at the flip top tube viciously.

“Bucky?” he asked.

His stomach clenched when Bucky didn’t answer for a moment. Then Bucky let out a sigh and held out the tube. “I can’t get anything out. It’s still sealed.”

“Oh.” Tony bit his lip in an effort not to say anything. Instead he took the tube, unscrewed the top, removed the foil seal, and offered it back.

“Thanks for not saying anything,” Bucky said, his voice soft. “I’m sure you wanted to.”

“Not as much as I want you to fuck me,” Tony said. “Besides, I didn’t need to – you were able to think it just fine without me.”

Bucky chuckled, but it sounded a little watery. “Fair enough. But now I’m going back to my plan.”

“I’m waiting with bated breath,” Tony said, keeping his voice light. Bucky grinned at him and squirted some of the lube on Tony’s stomach, causing him to squirm.

“Hey, that’s cold!” 

“Sorry,” said Bucky, who didn’t sound sorry. In fact, he sounded downright gleeful. He swirled his fingers around in the lube, getting them wet and warming it up a bit, before he slid them back behind Tony’s balls to his hole. “Ready?” he asked.

“ _Born_ ready,” Tony said. As Bucky slid a finger inside, Tony took a deep breath, letting it out slow and steady. There was no burn, just the deep satisfaction that this was a good thing that was happening, that there was no reason to stop. 

“Good?” Bucky asked.

“Yeah. Give me another?” 

“Planned on it,” Bucky said, pulling his finger back and returning with two. This time there was a little burn, but it was still so good that all Tony could do was groan.

“God, that’s… don’t fucking stop,” Tony found himself begging as Bucky methodically opened him up. He’d forgotten just how much he liked this feeling, of being open and willing and ready to be fucked.

“Not going to stop, Tony. Not until I’m inside of you.” Bucky punctuated his words with a third finger sliding inside, and Tony couldn’t bite back the little whimper of pleasure. “Too much?” Bucky asked, his face worried as he stilled his hand.

“No!” Tony knew that he was a little too loud, but Bucky had just brushed over his prostate, and he wanted him to start moving again.

“You sure?” This time, Bucky’s voice was a little breathier, teasing, as he moved his fingers in and out slowly, grazing past the bundle of nerves on each stroke. “You don’t sound very certain that you’re enjoying this.”

“If you stop, I’ll kill you slowly,” Tony said, but he knew he was whining, which took the threat away. “Come on – I feel like I’m loose enough already.”

“But I’m having fun,” Bucky said, sliding his fingers in more forcefully and crooking them to rub right over that spot. “You feel so good around my fingers.”

“I’ll feel even better wrapped around your dick,” Tony said breathlessly. “C’mon – it’s been seventy years since the last time you got to fuck someone. Aren’t you just dying for it?”

Bucky chuckled. “I hate to admit that this? This is something I’ve only done to myself – I’ve never gotten to fuck a guy before. Always bottomed.”

“You could have gotten away without telling me that,” Tony said. “It certainly feels like you know what you’re doing.”

“Thanks. But now that you’ve said it, yeah, I definitely want to move on with this.” Bucky slid his fingers free and grabbed one of the condoms that Tony realized he was still holding. Tony waited just long enough for both of them to realize that Bucky couldn’t get the little package open, and then sat up enough to take it back, open it, and then roll the condom down Bucky’s cock. 

“You have any idea how you want to do this?” Tony asked. 

“I want to see your face, but I don’t think that’s going to work,” Bucky said, clearly reluctant. “I can’t balance like that.”

“I have an idea,” Tony said. “Lie down, on your back.”

Bucky obeyed hurriedly enough that Tony could tell that he wasn’t the only one in the bed desperate to fuck. Running his hand through the last of the lube on his stomach, he spread it over Bucky’s covered cock, getting it good and slick, and then straddled him right above his waist. “Hold yourself steady,” Tony said, and waited until Bucky had slid his hand between them to hold his cock upright.

It took him a moment to find the right angle, and then he slowly slid down and back, letting Bucky in, taking every inch. Bucky was panting so harshly that Tony was afraid that he was going to start hyperventilating, and he paused, running the fingers of his clean hand down Bucky’s cheek. “Hey, hey, breathe, okay?”

“Holy fuck,” Bucky gasped out. “You’re so _tight_. Are you sure that I’m not hurting you?”

“So very sure,” Tony said with a laugh. “Not a pain in the world. And it’s going to get better in a minute – just as soon as I can see that you’re not going to pass out. Though that would be something to add to my sexual resumée.”

Bucky took a deep breath, and then burst out laughing. “I’ve got to see that,” he said. “I bet it’s pretty impressive.”

“You betcha.” Tony finished sliding down Bucky’s cock, his ass pressed up against Bucky’s hips. “You ready, now?”

“Go for it. Impress me,” Bucky said, but his eyes were huge in his face, like this was more than he’d ever expected. 

Tony didn’t say anything about it. He just lifted up and slid back down, slow and steady. Bucky’s breathing picked up again, but it wasn’t as harsh or as desperate, and Tony smiled. Then he leaned forward, resting his fists by Bucky’s shoulders, and leaned down for a kiss, a kiss that Bucky returned eagerly, a little desperately.

“You feel so good inside me,” Tony said against Bucky’s mouth. “Perfect cock, made just right for fucking me.”

“God,” Bucky said, his hips bucking and driving himself deeper. “Come on, Tony, you can’t say things like that.”

“Oh, but I can when they’re true,” Tony said with a grin. “It’s about to get even better.” Sitting back up, he started to swivel his hips as he moved, so that he was practically twisting around the cock buried in his ass. 

One of his hands went down to his own cock, which was begging to be touched, only to have Bucky push it away. “I want to do that. Can I do that?” Bucky asked.

“Of course,” Tony said, and then Bucky’s hand closed firmly around his cock, stroking him in time to Tony’s hips, and Tony groaned. “God, so good.”

“You’re telling me,” Bucky said. “I – I don’t know how much more I can take.”

“Just let go,” Tony said. “I’m close, too.” And he was, he could feel it coiling in the base of his spine, in his balls.

Bucky’s grip tightened on Tony’s cock, and Tony groaned, hips moving frantically as it became a race to see who was going to come first. He could tell that it was going to be close – Bucky was thrusting up as hard as Tony was coming down, and they were both panting like bellows, but then Bucky thrust again, even harder, and grunted, freezing.

Tony didn’t stop moving, riding Bucky’s cock for all he was worth, trying to push himself over the edge, and after a second, Bucky caught up with him, stroking his cock hard, and Tony let himself fall.

The orgasm seemed to last forever and not long enough at the same time. By the time he could breathe again, Bucky was staring at him wide-eyed. 

“Good?” Tony asked after he cleared his throat.

“‘Good’ is not the word I’d use,” Bucky said. Carefully, as he was a little shaky, Tony reached beneath himself to hold the condom in place as he slid off. It only took him a second to get the condom off Bucky, tie it off, and toss it in the trash at the side of the bed. 

“What word _would_ you use?” Tony asked when he was settled on his side on the bed, facing Bucky, one hand tracing through the come splattered all over his stomach. 

“Amazing? Fantastic? Let’s go again right now?” Bucky said with a grin.

“Alas, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. I’m too old to get it up again that quickly,” Tony said with a sigh.

“I bet you’re wrong about that, but I’ll give you a pass tonight as my brains are still leaking out of my ears,” Bucky said. “We should probably shower before we try to sleep.”

“You think?” Tony asked. “Don’t want to wake up stuck together?”

“That just sounds unpleasant,” Bucky said, and he started to slide to the side of the bed. Tony sighed and followed him to the bathroom. 

“Quick shower and then sleep?” Tony said.

“It’s a new plan.”


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They get samples of the faskyx. Is that going to let them solve the mystery?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For my Starkbucks prompt I5 - galaxy.
> 
> This gives me my first bingo!

The next morning, Tony was woken up by FRIDAY calling him. “Boss, the Faskyx is about an hour out, depending on how long the courier takes to clear customs. The teams are assembling in the labs and conference rooms for you to come and give them some direction.”

“You got it.” 

Turning to face Bucky, he smiled when he saw that he was awake as well. Leaning forward, he brushed a kiss over his lips and said, “No rest for the wicked.”

“I see that,” Bucky said with a small smile. “So I guess I won’t be seeing you for the next few days?”

“With luck, it won’t take me long now that I have the unadulterated metal,” Tony said. “But yeah, it’ll be a lot of late nights and long days until we have a solution.”

“Or until your time runs out,” Bucky said.

“Not going to happen.” Tony climbed out of the bed and went to the closet, grabbing a pair of jeans and tank top. “I’ve never failed when I’ve had all the proper materials. I’m not going to start now.” Taking the clothes, he went to the bathroom to get cleaned up for the day. 

When he came out, he found Bucky sitting on the side of the bed in jeans and nothing else. “I made you coffee,” he said, pointing to the mug on the nightstand. 

“Fantastic.” Tony took the mug and gulped half of it in one long swallow. “Ah, the brain is booting up.”

Bucky was a bit wide-eyed. “Wasn’t that, you know, _hot_?”

“I’m used to it,” Tony said with a chuckle. “You can get used to anything if you do it enough.”

“How about we not test that,” Bucky said. He stood up and leaned into Tony’s personal space. “ _Try_ to take care of yourself over the next few days, would you?”

“Sergeant Barnes, I’ll do my best to make sure that the Boss doesn’t fall over,” FRIDAY spoke up. “Not to worry.”

“The fact that she knows what I’m talking about is worrisome in and of itself,” Bucky said, but he was laughing. He pressed a kiss against Tony’s mouth, stopping him from defending himself, and Tony couldn’t help but return it eagerly. 

“I’ll be back with a working arm,” Tony said. “In the meantime, don’t wait up for me.”

“We’ll see,” Bucky said, his voice very non-committal, but he didn’t argue, so Tony took his win where he could get it and with one last peck, pulled away from Bucky, picked up his coffee, and headed towards the penthouse elevator.

Sixteen hours later he wasn’t so sure about the situation. The lump of faskyx sat on the table, deep cobalt blue and refusing to give up any of its secrets. It was incredibly reactive to electrical current, no matter how slight. That much made sense since apparently it was sensitive to the electrical energy generated by muscle. But how was it so reactive? He didn’t have a clue. Neither did anyone else.

The mass spec results were close to those given off by Steve's shield, which made sense if they were both the results of meteor strikes, but there was enough variation between the two that Tony didn't think they could generalize from one to the other. Besides, one of the things that Steve's shield had going for it was that it was completely inert as far as conducting electricity, which was the exact opposite of faskyx.

Bruce had the small piece that he’d taken for testing sitting on the bench in front of him. His elbows were propped on the bench as well, his chin resting in his hands, and he appeared to be having a staring contest with the metal. Fitz and Simmons were bickering over what some of their test results meant. Richards was the only one who didn’t seem frazzled by their complete inability to decipher anything at all about the stuff. Tony had already decided that if he said that the faskyx was “fascinating” one more time, he was going to strangle the man with his own arm.

Out of frustration, he wandered next door to the conference room, hoping that one of the members of the research team might have found something. By now, all of the boxes had been emptied, the papers sorted, their values weighted and decided on. Many of the original team had returned to their regular work when this turned out to be a problem that was going to need primarily engineers and chemists, but Susan was still there, directing the work. 

“You find out anything brilliant?” Tony asked.

“No, Tony,” she said in a huff. “The results that are coming out of your lab just don’t make any sense!”

“Tell me about it,” Tony said. “It’s no better on my end.” Raising his voice, he said, “How about the rest of you?”

“I can’t figure out either,” Mike said, “But I have a suggestion. My department is working with Wakandan delegation on clean energy. Could we consult with them? Other that the faskyx, vibranium is the rarest metal in the world and they’re experts in that. Maybe they’ll have some ideas we haven’t thought of.”

“I – “ Tony hesitated, trying to remember what the hell he was talking about. When he connected the dots, he couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face. “You’re a genius,” he said. “They’ve got SI clearance or they wouldn’t be here. You want to get them up here?”

“I’ll do that right away,” Mike said, already out of his seat and headed to the room telephone. 

“Let me know when they get here,” Tony said. “And if any of you have any other brilliant ideas, don’t hesitate to speak up.”

There was a chorused agreement, and Tony went back to the lab with a lighter step. He hated to admit that he wasn’t the best at anything, but given what he knew about Wakandan engineering, it was no insult.

Mike sent him an email stating that the delegation had gone back to their hotel for the evening. This really wasn't a surprise given that it was the middle of the night, but still a bit of a letdown. Their representative did say that they would be happy to join the scientific group in the morning. Tony sighed and acknowledged the email. 

He shared its contents with the rest of the room, and was unsurprised when Richards took it as a cue to excuse himself for the evening. No one else jumped to leave the room, but when Tony looked around the room, he realized that Bruce was falling asleep into his computer and that Fitz and Simmons had both fallen silent as they worked. 

“Okay, all of you, out,” he said, raising his voice slightly. “None of you are getting anything done."

Fitz and Simmons didn't argue, just packed up and left. Bruce didn't move, but when Tony went over and shook him gently, he startled. "Uh, what?" he asked.

"Go to bed, Bruce," Tony said. "The scientists from Wakanda are going to be here in the morning and we'll see if they have any ideas."

Bruce nodded and slid out of his chair. "You going to go to bed too?" Bruce asked. 

"In a bit," Tony said. "I want to review a few things first."

Bruce looked doubtful, but he didn't argue. Instead he just made his way out of the lab and headed towards the elevators.

"Boss? Are you going to bed?" FRIDAY asked.

"I don't think so," Tony admitted to her. "I don't want to go back to my empty apartment and time is ticking. The more things I can eliminate, the better the Wakandans will be able to help."

She was silent, and the silence spoke volumes about how she disagreed with his choice. At the same time, he didn't particularly want to argue, so he just started reviewing what little they'd been able to discover over the last sixteen hours.

He was just staring at the readout of the nonsensical results when the door to the lab opened. A little startled, he turned. Bucky was coming through the door, holding a tray in his arm. "Bucky?" he asked.

"Yeah, Tony," Bucky said. He set the tray down on an empty spot on the lab bench. "Here. A little birdie told me that you'd sent everyone home. It also told me that you hadn't eaten since breakfast."

"FRIDAY, you rat," Tony said, with no heat. The A.I.'s silence was confirmation of his suspicion. On the tray, there was a plate with Steve's pot roast and vegetables, and a glass of water. No booze, not even wine. "I don't know that I can eat this," Tony confessed, his stomach twisted up in knots at the possibility of failure.

"You can," Bucky said. "At least try a few bites, okay?"

Tony sighed, but picked up the fork. The beef was so tender it was falling apart, and practically melted in his mouth. As it went down, his stomach seemed to wake up to just how hungry he should be, and he found himself eating steadily, inhaling everything on the plate.

When he took the last bite, exhaustion descended on him like a weight, and he yawned widely. When his eyes could focus again, he found that Bucky was smiling at him fondly. "I hear you're bringing in even more people tomorrow," he said, but at least he didn't sound angry.

"Yeah. They, uh, they're scientific experts, but they come at science from a completely different angle than us," Tony said. "Hopefully they'll make better progress than we were."

"You know, it must have taken some doing to convince you that there might be someone else more suited to this," Bucky said.

All Tony could do was shake his head. "Not really. We need to get this solved -" Bucky started to shake his head, so Tony backtracked and said, "I admit it, _I_ need this solved. And if that means asking for help, then I'll do it."

Bucky's face softened in a smile. "Thanks, Tony. Thank you."

"Hey, what good is it to have a mechanic for a boyfriend if he can't fix mechanical issues?" Tony said flippantly, even as it felt like the arc reactor had skipped a bit at the word boyfriend.

If anything, Bucky's smile got wider. "Okay, then, as your boyfriend? I'm telling you that you should get at least a few hours of sleep so that you can deal with the Wakanda people. I understand that the leader of their delegation is a real firecracker."

"Oh? What have you heard?" Tony asked as he pretended to ignore the way he was being chivvied towards the door.

"Nah," Bucky said. "I think it would be funnier to see your face when you meet them."

"Does this mean you're going to stay the night with me?" Tony asked, trying not to sound as needy as he felt.

"It's the only way I know you'll sleep," Bucky said, pressing the button to summon the elevator.

It was only a matter of moments before they were in the penthouse. Tony was so tired he started to strip as soon as he reached the bedroom door, and this time, Bucky didn't bother to clean up after him. 

They got under the covers, and Tony could feel sleep dragging at his eyes, but the weight of Bucky resting against his shoulder was enough to comfort him as he slipped away.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Wakandan delegation arrives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starbucks prompt N4 "Why do you need a bodyguard?"
> 
> FaeGentry has volunteered to beta from here forward! Yay!

Tony woke up as the lights in the bedroom started to brighten. Bucky had rolled away, but was sleeping peacefully, so he kept his voice down. "FRIDAY, what time is it?" 

"Seven, boss," she said. "The Wakandan people are scheduled to arrive at eight, so I thought you might want some time to wake up."

He stretched, ignoring the way that his back and shoulders crackled. It was hell to be getting older, but it wasn't something he could do anything about. Standing, he was unsurprised when Bucky said, "Tony? Is it time to get up?"

Circling the bed, he pressed a kiss to Bucky's forehead. "Nah—you sleep in. I need to go to the lab, though."

Bucky gave him a soft smile, and his eyes drifted shut. Tony wondered again how much of Bucky's acceptance of the situation was an act he was putting on for Steve and Tony, and just how much it was costing him. 

He took a colder-than-usual shower, trying to make up for too- little sleep by shocking his brain awake. By the time he got out, he was shivering slightly, but he was sure that he wasn't going to fall asleep the moment he sat down.

As much as he liked Bucky, he thought it was a little annoying that with Bucky's insistence on regular sleeping and eating, his ability to just keep going until the puzzle was solved seemed to be disappearing. As he toweled off, he tried to figure out if he was actually annoyed about it, but ultimately decided that the benefits of having Bucky in his life far outweighed his abilities to do unlimited all-nighters.

Besides, when he fixed this ( _when_ , not _if_ , his brain insisted), he'd have other good reasons to stay up all night.

He went inside his closet to dress, trying to keep it quiet enough for Bucky to keep sleeping, but when he came out, Bucky was sitting on the edge of the bed, rubbing his face. "Morning," he said, instead of trying to chivy Bucky into more sleep.

"Morning. Hang out while I clean up, wouldja?" Bucky asked. 

"Does this mean I'm going to get to see you in my sweats again?" Tony asked with a little laugh.

"Ha, fucking ha," Bucky said with a snort. "No, I brought up some clothes before coming to get you last night. I _really_ want to be there when you meet the delegation."

Bucky stood up, and Tony realized exactly how tired he must have been the night before, because Bucky was totally, and gloriously, naked. Tony's mouth went dry as he let his eyes drift all the way down to the floor and back up again. When they met Bucky's, Bucky was grinning as if he knew exactly what seeing him like this was doing to Tony.

"Um," Tony said, intelligently.

"Right. FRIDAY, is there coffee in the pot?" Bucky asked, still grinning.

"Yes, Sgt. Barnes. I started it when I woke the Boss up."

"Go get a cup of coffee, Tony," Bucky said. "I won't be long."

All Tony wanted was to tackle Bucky back into the bed, but that wouldn't solve anything. So he took himself to the living room of his floor, where, true to her word, FRIDAY had started the coffee pot on the bar. Pouring himself a mug-full, he leaned against the bar and drank it, knowing that it would do something about the slight headache he had from caffeine withdrawal and not enough sleep. 

By the time he'd finished his second mug, Bucky was coming out of the bedroom. His hair was loose around his shoulders, but he was clean and decent and clothed, unfortunately. He came over to the bar to pour himself a cup of coffee, and, mug in hand, said, "Shall we go?"

Tony glanced at the clock—quarter of eight. Perfect. He could have everything booted up and ready to go by the time the Wakandans got there. "Sure. Let's go."

When they got to the lab, though, he found that there were two bald women with spears standing outside the door. They were both dressed in matching red uniforms and as they approached, the women crossed the spears. The one on the right said, "Hold. Who are you?"

Tony frowned but before he could say anything particularly rude, Bucky rested his hand on Tony's arm. Tony flashed a smile at him, and then turned back to her. "I'm Tony Stark and this is my tower. The question is who the hell are _you_?"

"Ah, Mr. Stark," the woman on the left said. She nodded at her counterpart, and they uncrossed their spears. "Please, go in."

Tony wanted to argue, but bit his tongue at the touch of Bucky's hand on his back. Going into the lab, he found activity swirling, apparently directed by a young girl standing in the middle of the room. _"What the hell?"_ he blurted out.

"Mr. Stark," another young woman, in much more casual clothing, said, inserting himself between Tony and the teenager giving orders. "Good morning. My name is Nakia and we are here to assist in any way we can."

"Maybe you can tell me what the hell a child is doing in my lab?" Tony asked, his eyes on the teenager who was manipulating his holograms as if she'd been doing it her entire life.

"This is Princess Shuri," Nakia replied calmly. "She is in charge of all scientific research in Wakanda and the best person you can have working on this project."

"These mass spec results are very interesting," said Shuri without turning around. "But I do not see any radiograph results of testing of the welds in Sgt. Barnes' arm. Why haven't those tests been run?"

He moved up closer, looking at the results she was studying. "Because we try to avoid exposing Dr. Banner to gamma radiation," he said, interested to know why she was specifying that particular test.

"It actually needs to be a neutron radiograph," she said, turning to look at him. There was good humor in her eyes, and she almost looked mischievous. "I think I may know this metal, but I need that test to confirm it."

"Really?" Tony asked, trying not to sound as hopeful as he felt. "You've seen it before?"

"Do the test, and I will let you know," she said.

"You know, this is my lab," he said, trying to not let a teenager bowl him over.

"Yes, I can tell," she said. "And I am sure you've been doing the best you can with what you have, but I need those test results."

"Hey, wait a minute," he said, getting a little hot at the idea that he hadn't been doing everything he could possibly be doing. "What do you think - "

"Mr. Stark," she said, and her voice was patient. The tone got right under his skin and made him start to bristle, but before he could respond, she smiled at him. "If this is the metal I think it is, this problem can be solved relatively simply. I know that I am young, but like you, I have been working in science and engineering my whole life. Please trust that I do actually know what I am doing."

Put like that, it was difficult for Tony to argue. He'd been doing engineering since he was four—it was possible that this ‘Princess Shuri’ had started that early as well. And he remembered well the way he'd been doubted by—well, just about everyone. So he swallowed down the urge to argue. "Okay. Neutron radiograph testing of the welds. Anything we should be looking for?"

"If I am right, this is an isotope of vibranium we use in Wakanda," she said. "There are multiple isotopes that are used for different purposes—vibranium is extraordinarily versatile in the way that it presents."

"It didn't match that closely on the mass spec," Tony said, probing a little. "Shouldn't it have been closer?"

"Vibranium is an odd metal," Shuri said. "We have been working with it for hundreds of years, so we know all of its varieties, but compared to other elements, there are many more differences than is common."

Just then, one of the women who had been guarding the door opened it and said, "Mr. Stark, there are several people here who say that they work with you. We recognize Dr. Banner, will you please confirm the others?"

Bucky interjected, "I'll take care of it," and walked away, leaving Tony with the girl who had seemingly taken over his lab in a matter of minutes, and before he’d arrived, no less. 

"You know, I don't even know how you got in here without me," Tony said. 

Nakia spoke up. "Your A.I. allowed us entry when we arrived. She said we were expected."

FRIDAY chimed in with, "You were getting dressed, Boss. I didn't see any harm in letting them get started. Was this incorrect?"

Tony _wanted_ to say ‘yes.’ He hated feeling upstaged or like he had the wrong end of the stick. At the same time, if the delegation actually knew this metal, it would be worth being a little embarrassed. "Nah, it's fine, FRIDAY. Just, you know, next time, warn me."

"Got it," FRIDAY acknowledged.

Bruce, Fitz, Simmons, and Richards all came into the lab, openly staring at Nakia and Shuri. Before any of them could say anything, Tony began, "Fitz, get Sgt. Barnes' prosthetic, and take it to the testing room. Please run neutron- based radiological testing on the welds, and report back to me as soon as you have those results. You'll have to go to the sub-basement where we store nuclear materials. FRIDAY can direct you there."

"Of course, Mr. Stark," said Fitz, hurrying to the table where the arm had been lying for two days. Tony had been doing everything in his power to ignore its very existence and the way that it silently mocked him.

"While we wait for those results, what else can we do?" he asked, trying not to come off as the smart ass he felt like.

"I would like to talk to Sgt. Barnes," Shuri said. "He would of course be the best expert in the capabilities of the prosthetic."

Bucky was leaning against the lab bench, but he stood up straight at that. "I'm not sure what I can tell you, Ma'am. Wasn't like I designed or built the damn thing. I usually wasn't even awake when they worked on it."

"Yes, I understand that," Shuri said. "I have read the reports. But I have some questions about its operation."

"I'll do the best I can," Bucky said.

She flashed a bright smile at him and launched into a series of detailed questions about the ability of his arm to feel pain, pressure, temperature. She wanted to know about the speed of response—was it as fast to react as his real arm or was there lag? Did he ever have to do maintenance on it himself or had that always been handled by others? 

Bucky smiled a little crookedly at the barrage of questions and didn't even try to answer until she finally slowed to a stop. Tony had to admit to himself that she sounded _a lot_ like Tony had at that age, and that, more than anything else, reassured him that she might actually know what she was talking about.

Once the flood had slowed, Bucky started to answer. "Yeah, I could feel pressure and temperature, and I knew if the arm was damaged, even if it didn't show. But it didn't really _hurt_ as such."

"So what did it feel like when it was injured?" 

Bucky shrugged. "Hard to describe, ma'am. Like an itch in the back of my brain, maybe? Just, I knew that it had been damaged and would report it when I got back in from the missions."

"And its reaction time?" Shuri asked, curiosity written clearly across her face.

"It was a little slower than my right arm," he said. "But it was a lot stronger, so that made up for it."

She nodded. "Would you mind if I examined the connection point?"

Nakia spoke up then, warning clear in her voice, _"Shuri..."_

Shuri rolled her eyes skyward. "Oh, Nakia. You're as bad as my brother. Sgt. Barnes isn't dangerous to me." 

"You overestimate yourself, Shuri," Nakia said, her voice mildly scolding.

"Bah," Shuri said, laughing a little. "It will be fine. Come, Sgt. Barnes, let me look."

"There's not a lot to see," Bucky said, but he was shrugging out of his shirt. "Just metal and wires." He settled on one of the lab stools, and she came over, peering at the connection point but not touching.

"Do you have any sensation where the shoulder joint has been replaced?" she asked, still not touching. Tony was glad, because he didn't want anyone touching Bucky who wasn't him, even though he knew that that was ridiculous.

"A little around the edges," Bucky said. "But I think most of it is just overlay to support the weight of the arm. I'm not sure what metal it's actually made of."

Shuri looked at Tony. "Have the wires been tested to determine their composition?"

Bruce spoke up. "Yes, they've been tested. They're just plain copper wire."

"Hmm," Shuri hummed. "Dr. Banner, right?"

"Yes. I'm sorry, I wasn't here for the introductions earlier. I assume you're from Wakanda, but what's your name?"

Shuri giggled, sounding like the teenager she was. "Oh, sorry," she said. "I am Shuri, and I am in charge of scientific outreach in Wakanda." She started to reach out to shake Bruce's hand, and he took it with a bemused look on his face.

"And she is King T'Challa's sister," Nakia said, voice a little sharp.

Bruce instantly dropped her hand. "Princess," he said, his voice tinged with respect.

Shuri sighed. "Yes, I am T'Challa's sister, Nakia, but here, I am a scientist," she said. Turning back to Bruce, she smiled again. "Don't mind her. She is supposed to keep me from causing an international incident."

Laughing, Bruce asked, "Can she do that for Tony, too?"

"Hey!" Tony objected. "I haven't caused an international incident—"

"In at least three weeks," Bucky cut in.

Tony gave Bucky a mock-glare. "I haven't caused one since the Mandarin, and I didn't start that one. I just finished it."

Bucky held up his hand. "Fine, fine. You're very well-behaved." When Tony turned back to Shuri and Nakia, Bucky added, "... Lately."

Shuri and Nakia watched this interchange with wide eyes, and Tony found himself rolling his own. If Fitz didn't get back soon, he was not going to be held responsible for his actions. "FRIDAY, how is Fritz doing with that testing?" 

"He just sent up the results," she said. "Should I display them?"

"Yeah, throw them up there," Tony said, and the numbers started to roll in mid-air.

Shuri broke off her questioning of Bucky to come over and study them closely. From what Tony could see, other than an exceptional evenness of the welds, there wasn't anything particularly outstanding in them.

"Here and here," she said, pointing at some numbers in the display. "Do you see the amount of radiation getting through the welds?"

Tony looked a little closer and then said, "FRIDAY—get me the results of the testing on Cap's shield."

Those results appeared next to the first set, the relevant section helpfully highlighted in blue. "They're not quite identical but they're pretty damn close," he said.

"Yes," Shuri said. "This is what I would expect from dedbo vibranium, found in some of the mountains of Wakanda," she continued. "When it landed, it underwent a process we call ‘omega wave ionization.’ It alters the very structure of the vibranium, so that instead of being electrically inert, it conducts more easily than any other metal we've tested."

"So what you're saying is that what the USSR had was a small piece of vibranium that underwent this ionization?" he asked. "And with the way that Wakanda isolated itself up until recently, of course no one would know about it."

Shuri was grinning widely. "Yes. The good news is that this means that we should be able to fashion Sgt. Barnes a new arm that will work as well if not better than this one, using techniques we already have."

 _"Holy shit,"_ Tony said. "Holy, holy shit. Lady, if this is the kind of technology you bring to the table, we need to solidify any agreements your people have with SI. This technology could revolutionize the care of people who need prosthetics."

"Indeed. Now, while I can identify the metal, I don't actually use this particular isotope. It's primarily used by people in the medical sciences, for obvious reasons, and I am no doctor. But I should be able to get some of our top people here within a day or two to start testing and see what modifications need to be made to the connection point on Sgt. Barnes’ shoulder to adapt one of our prosthetics."

"Wait a minute," Bucky said from behind them, and Shuri jumped. Tony, more used to Bucky's ability to sneak up on _anyone,_ managed to hide his own flinch. Instead he just turned to face Bucky and arched an eyebrow.

"What? That's still inside that ten day window," he said.

"No one said anything about doctors messing with _me_ ," Bucky said, his face set in a deep frown. "Especially doctors I don't know. Not happening."

"Sgt. Barnes," Nakia said, her voice soothing. "No one will do anything to you without your consent and without explaining anything you want to know."

"No," Bucky repeated, shaking his head violently. "No doctors. I'll go without."

Shuri opened her mouth, but Tony shook his head at her. He had learned, and learned quickly, that when Bucky had made up his mind, that it was exceptionally hard to change. Trying to argue him out of it right now was not going to help, and would only result in him firming up his resolve. Thankfully Shuri closed her mouth again without saying anything. 

"Bucky, no one is going to touch you without your permission," Tony said. "If you don't want their doctors to work on your shoulder, that's fine. But can we work on rebuilding the arm itself? Maybe that can be made to work with the already existing connection point."

Bucky looked torn. Tony could sympathize, he really could. Doctors made him break out in hives, too, and he didn't have seventy years of conditioning to overcome. "Look, Bucky. I'm already going to drag Nakia and Shuri in to see Pepper to negotiate for this technology. The difference it could make in the lives of people who need prosthetics—even people who aren't you—is impressive. I would like to have a prototype to show her why it's important."

When Bucky swallowed, Tony could hear the click of his dry throat. "I—I guess that would be okay. As long as no one needs to touch me."

"No one will touch you unless you agree," Tony said, trying to put enough force behind the words that Bucky would believe him. 

"Then you can work on the arm," Bucky said. "But I'm going to be somewhere else while you do it."

Before Tony could say anything at all, Bucky whirled and walked out of the lab. He watched through the glass as long as he could, a little concerned that Bucky might collapse or have some sort of meltdown, but right now, it wasn't something he could directly help with. On the other hand—"FRIDAY, get Cap on the line."

"Yes, Boss," FRIDAY said, and then a moment later, Steve's voice came through the speakers to the lab. "What do you need, Tony?"

"Cap, I've got good news and I've got bad news." Tony said, a little uncertain on how to explain this all to him, and in the presence of the Wakandan delegation. "I've got to tell you the good news first, though, because the bad news won't make sense otherwise."

"Okay," Steve said. "Lay it on me."

"The good news is that the scientist from Wakanda recognizes the metal used in Bucky's arm, and better yet, they've already been using it in prosthetics. They're going to send for some of their experts to help."

"That's great!" Steve said enthusiastically. "Wait, why is there bad news then? You've solved the problem."

"Not... exactly," Tony said. "The Wakandans have their own method for wiring their prosthetics, and Bucky refuses to let them touch the connection point on his shoulder to modify it to make it compatible with their way of doing things."

There was a moment of silence as Steve took that in, and then he said, "You aren't expecting me to change his mind, are you?" his deep voice foreboding.

"No," Tony replied honestly. "He either will or he won't. But I don't think he should be alone right now and I think I would be the last person he wants to see right now. Can you go just... be his friend?"

Steve's voice was a lot lighter when he said, "Been doing that for close to a hundred years now. I'll go check on him, see if he wants to talk. And Tony?"

"Yeah, Cap?"

"Thank you for understanding that it's his choice." Before Tony could respond to that, Steve had cut the connection.

Tony rubbed a hand across his face before turning back to the two women, who looked very puzzled. "I don't understand," Shuri said. "We can fix this, easily. Why does he fight?"

"Lady, that is a story you wouldn't believe," he said. "And it's not my story to tell. Let's just leave it that Bucky has reasons—good ones—to distrust doctors, especially doctors messing with his arm. Let's just get your people here so that we can see if we can do anything with what we already have."

Nakia said, "I have already sent a message to the head of our medical research facility. It will take a day or two to get the team here, but in the meantime, perhaps there is something else we can do?"

"Yeah," said Tony. "I may not know prosthetics specifically, but I'm a mechanic. I should be able to start breaking down the current prosthetic so that your team can start analysis before they even get here."

"I could help with that," Shuri offered, but she seemed much more subdued than even just a few minutes earlier. 

"Shuri," Tony assured her, "It's not you, or your people. I promise you. It has nothing at all to do with you. It has to do with the terrible things that people can do to others, and what some _exceptionally_ terrible people did to him. Now, you said you're an engineer. Let's engineer the hell out of this thing so that your people have a good starting point when they get here."

"I also said I don't work in the medical field," Shuri said, a little of the good humor coming back into her voice.

"And if we were working on Bucky that would matter." Tony grinned at her. "The arm, on the other hand, is a piece of engineering. So show me what you've got."


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They start rebuilding the arm, and Tony is impressed by Shuri.

Fitz, Simmons, and Richards joined Shuri and Tony in taking the arm apart. Given the sheer number of hands involved, Tony made sure to have FRIDAY recording the exact way it was done so that they'd be able to reassemble or reconstruct it to the exact same specifications when it came time to put it back together.

Fitz and Simmons were ecstatic over the way the mechanics of the arm worked, and even Richards seemed more than a little bit interested. Tony kept half an eye on them, both to make sure that they weren't doing anything stupid and to see if there was anything that he could integrate into the suit, but while compared to "normal" prosthetics it was extremely advanced, Tony was pleased to see that the mechanics of the suit were still worlds beyond. He'd hate to have to take anything from the mass murdering fuckheads of HYDRA.

He and Shuri focused on the power supply and the way that it integrated into the rest of the limb. Looking at it in more detail, there was no doubt that it had been replaced some time in the last ten years—prior to that, the technology there just hadn't existed. It was small but extremely heavy, a lot of function packed into a tight space.

"Shuri, did we negotiate to give you guys arc reactor tech?" Tony asked.

"No," Nakia said from behind them, and Tony turned to look at her. "We are most interested in it, of course, but it was decided to see how the partnership worked out before your company put such a valuable commodity on the table."

"Huh," said Tony. "Can you excuse me for a minute?"

Both Nakia and Shuri looked puzzled but agreed, and Tony stepped out of the lab and walked down to one of the unoccupied conference rooms. "FRIDAY, is Pepper in her office? And is she meeting with anyone right now?"

"She's in with her admin, Boss, but her next appointment isn't for another hour."

"Great. Call her for me, would you?"

There was a ringing in the air, and then Pepper picked up. "Tony—you can't have any more people," she said, but her voice held some humor. "As I understand it, you've now got the Wakandan delegation working with you—that should be plenty."

"Yeah, I do. And we're going to have a discussion about why you didn't introduce me to Shuri already," Tony said. "But that's not why I'm calling. Is there a reason to hold back the arc reactor tech other than leverage? Because they've already given us enough to go on that I think we need to let them have it."

"Are you sure, Tony? It's a lot of proprietary specs, and it's not something we've given up in trade before." He could almost see her twisting her hands together. She was right—typically, _everyone_ wanted the reactor tech, but up until now he'd managed to avoid giving away anything but sealed, self-contained systems that couldn't be reverse-engineered. Pepper seemed to realize that he meant to give it _all_ to the Wakandans.

"I'm sure," Tony said. "Just based on the tech that they're offering us, freely, without trying to bargain further, it'd be worth it. And Shuri—man, she's amazing. Sometime I'd like to poke at the suit with her."

Pepper chuckled a little. "Do you have a crush?" she teased. "Remember, Shuri is a teenager and royalty."

"Eh," he waved that away. "She's too young for me, and I'm currently obsessed with a guy twice my age, but in terms of science—what she could do with Bruce and me would be amazing."

"I can hear the stars in your eyes from here," Pepper said, her chuckles having turned to giggles. "Fine. Reactor tech, officially on the table. In return for—what, exactly are we getting in return?"

"Access to their information on medical assistive devices; specifically, prosthetics. Possible access to the isotope of vibranium they use to manufacture them—she called it _‘dedbo.’_ And further considerations, as applicable," Tony said. "I know the language, Ms. Potts. You're just better at putting it together in ways that the lawyers like."

"Fair enough, Tony." Pepper gave another little giggle. "I'll have the attorneys write something up and courier it up to the lab. I don't suppose I can convince you to not share proprietary information until the contract is signed?"

"Probably not," Tony admitted. "But I'm fairly sure that I can keep them here until your courier gets here with the contract so that they don't have time to send the plans to their pals. Plus I think Shuri is their chief scientist anyway."

"Okay, so I know what I'm doing with my afternoon," Pepper said. "You go get busy with yours."

"You're the best CEO a man could wish for, Ms. Potts," Tony said, and then FRIDAY disconnected the call.

Going back into the lab, he saw that the others had even more of the arm disassembled, and that Shuri was grumbling over the power supply. She looked up when he came in. "This is a horribly crude thing," she said. "The weight—in a prosthesis, no less—would just be unbearable. And that's not even counting the weight of the rest of the arm."

"Agreed," Tony said. "Which is why we're going to build it an arc reactor."

Shuri's eyes grew large in her face, but before she could say anything, Nakia stepped between the two of them, her gaze shrewd. "In return for what, Mr. Stark?" she asked. "I know that you do not give that technology away for nothing."

"You're right, Nakia," he said. "But nothing I don't think you'd be unwilling to trade. Information on how your people build prosthetics. A cooperative agreement to improve them using both of our technologies. Access to limited amounts of dedbo vibranium solely for medical use. Possible further considerations, depending on the success of our joint ventures."

"We... open-ended agreements are not something we can accept." Nakia's voice was strained, as if it pained her to say it. 

"Fair enough," Tony said, adapting on the fly. "Can you leave Shuri here with her guards and go work with Ms. Potts on mutually agreeable language? I promise not to make off with her under the cover of night."

"Nakia—" Shuri said. Her voice was pleading, practically a whine, and Tony's level of respect for Nakia went up when she didn't immediately melt in the face of it. 

Tapping her finger against her lips, she looked steadily at Tony for long, uncomfortable moments. Finally, she said, "Shuri does not leave the lab. And no one who is not here already may enter until I return."

"One rider to that, lady," Tony said, aiming to be his most charming. "I'd like to allow Sergeant Barnes and Captain Rogers access if they want to come in. It's Barnes' arm, and Captain Rogers is his best friend. He may need the support."

"Acceptable," she said. Then she gripped Shuri tightly by the upper arm and turned that firm gaze on her. "You go nowhere until I return. The Dora Milaje stay here with you at all times."

Shuri didn't seem intimidated by her at all, and in fact rolled her eyes. "You can't go without at least one, or my brother will have a fit," she said. "I will keep Ayo and you will take Xoliswa."

Nakia sighed. "You are as stubborn as your brother, I swear," she said, and then leaned forward to brush her cheek against Shuri's. "Be safe, or your brother will have my head," she said.

"T'Challa can't do anything harsh when it comes to you," Shuri said, and then turned her attention back to Tony as Nakia left the room. Rubbing her hands together eagerly, she said, "Now we can begin."

Tony had all of the components he needed on- hand—he'd been planning to make a third backup of the chest plate, anyway—so it was simply a matter of leading Shuri to a separate table and starting to pull out component parts out of drawers. He laid them out sequentially, explaining what each piece did as he went. Shuri showed no hesitation in asking questions about why he used this item or that, why this piece was shaped one way or another. Within a few minutes, he knew he'd made the right choice in letting them have this tech—she was going to be able to improve it once she had a chance to work on it for a week. In the meantime...

Under his hands, the duplicate arc reactor took shape quickly, as he was practiced at the assembly. Finally, it was all together except for the core. "So, this is what I'm currently using to power the reactors," he said, pulling out the heavy case from under the lab bench. "My dad came up with the idea of synthesizing this, but he didn't have the technology. I managed it, using the particle accelerator I built in my house. I call it Starkium."

"Do you often name things after yourself?" Shuri laughed.

"Ask Captain Rogers what he thought of the original name of this building," Tony retorted, rolling his eyes at her. "Hey, it was conceived of by one Stark and created by another. There's no better name."

"I assume you're the only source for this ‘Starkium,’" Shuri said as he slid out one of the clips out of the case and inserted it into the reactor. Within seconds it was glowing a soft, gentle blue. 

"Yeah. It's one of the ways I control access to the reactor technology," he admitted. "Assuming that this partnership works out and it's something you want, we can discuss how we might set up manufacturing of small amounts of it in Wakanda."

"I suspect your Ms. Potts will not allow that," Shuri said, taking the new arc reactor from Tony's hands and studying it from every angle. "I can't blame her for that. She takes good care of your company and drives a hard bargain."

"I'm going to take that as meant as a compliment for her," Tony said, watching Shuri's hands as she tested the joins on the reactor, tugging at it to see how firmly seated the pieces were. 

"Oh, it absolutely was. Just because I am a scientist, does not mean that I'm not also a diplomat," she said. "This is _fascinating_. And how long will the power last in a reactor this size?"

"With the amount of power that Barnes will pull to power his arm as is? Probably five to ten years, maybe more. I go through them faster, but they power my suits, and those are a lot more complex."

"I'm sure," Shuri said, grinning at him. She weighed the reactor in one hand. "It's hard to imagine so much power in something so small and light."

"If you had to carry one around in your sternum, you'd want it light, too," Tony said, trying to make his voice cheerful.

He didn't doubt that Shuri's sharp eyes saw right through him, but she didn't say anything about it. Instead, she gestured towards where Simmons, Fitz, and Richards were still digging through the pieces of Barnes' arm. "So, shall we see what we can design around this as a power source?"

Tony grinned. "Let them keep picking that apart. FRIDAY, throw the specs up as-is over here, and explode them, so that we can see how everything fits together."

A hologram immediately surrounded the two of them, and they started to pull pieces around, trying to see how to fit everything in neatly, without sacrificing any of Bucky's abilities or strengths. The arc reactor fit in neatly in the shoulder, and slowly the rest of it started to come together under their hands.

At some point, the remaining Wakandan bodyguard brought Shuri a sandwich, at the same time that Bruce brought Tony one of his own, and they both ate one-handed, talking over each other in their excitement at each new revelation.

Tony was deeply involved with the plans, when the door to the lab opened. He didn't look up, expecting it to be Nakia, but instead, he heard, "Whoa—is that my arm?"

His head flew up. "Bucky!" he exclaimed. "You came back!"

"Well," Bucky said, scratching the back of his neck. "I—"

"I told him he should see what you mad scientist types were getting up to," Steve said from behind Bucky, and it said something that Tony hadn't even noticed that he was there. "So, planning to put guns inside that thing?"

"Oh, we had assumed that he wouldn't want that," Shuri interjected from the side. "But if he's interested... And since Ayo let you in the room, you must be Captain Rogers."

"Ayo—is she the fierce lady outside the door? She's pretty impressive. Reminds me of someone I knew once." Rogers smiled. "Yeah, I'm Steve. Pleased to meet you, and _really_ impressed with anyone who can keep up with Tony."

Shuri smiled, and it was pleasant and warm. "Who's to say he's not keeping up with me, Captain Rogers?"

Both Steve and Bucky smiled at that, but Tony had burst out laughing, because it was true. He was learning as much from this teenager as she was learning from him. At that, Bucky's smile grew wider and less forced. "Well, it certainly seems like you're making some interesting discoveries," he said.

"We are," Shuri said. She started to say something else, and then cut herself off, and Tony saw the years of diplomatic training she must have had, because he knew that she wanted to ask Bucky to change his mind—it was written all over her face for just a brief moment. But she said nothing, simply spinning the diagram so that it was closer to Steve and Bucky.

Bucky reached out carefully, touching just the edge of one of the diagrams. Then he spun it a little further, tipping it, and yep—he'd spotted the power source. "Tony, is that an arc reactor?" he asked. "I thought we talked about how that was a bad idea in case Hydra—"

"In case Hydra took you or you were playing the long game, I know," Tony sighed with a shrug. "Doesn't matter. I trust you. I trust you to get free long before they can dig this out of your arm, and if for some reason you can't, I trust the Avengers to bring you home. You won't let the shoulder joint be worked on, and I'm not arguing with that choice. But I'm not going to give you an arm that isn't the best possible thing that Shuri and I can design within those parameters."

For a long moment, there was silence, even the other people around the room growing quiet. In the silence, Steve nudged Bucky's flesh shoulder, hard enough to push him forward a step.

"Quit it, ya jerk," Bucky said, but then turned back to Tony. "It may have been pointed out that I _might_ have been overly hasty in refusing to let the Wakandan medical team look at my shoulder. If the Princess still wants them to do so, I can let them look. I won't promise anything more than that."

Before Tony could respond, Shuri had stepped forward, through the hologram of Bucky's arm, and reached out to take his hand. "Thank you for your trust, Sergeant Barnes. I give you my word that it won't be misplaced."

"Um, yeah," Bucky said, and his ears had turned red. It was the cutest thing Tony thought he'd ever seen, Bucky being reduced to blushing by a sixteen-year-old, but even though he damn near choked on it, he managed to keep every single comment about it behind his teeth. He wanted to get laid again sometime this century, and by Bucky, and that meant keeping a leash on his tongue.

"In that case, this may just be Mark 2 of your arm," Tony said after a moment to make sure he could ignore the blush. "It's designed to work with the socket you currently have. _If_ you decide to allow it to be redesigned, it will be quick work to fix this to fit. And I'm within the ten days you set."

"You are," Bucky said, his eyes dancing and the edges of his lips tipping up in a smile. "I guess you really are the best."

"I had a great team to work with," Tony said, smiling widely at Shuri, and then looking around the room at everyone who had put so much time and effort into this. "I just provided the space."

"You did more than that," Bucky said, and this time his grin was wider and a little lecherous. Tony caught Shuri smiling behind her hand and realized that this time it was his turn to blush. _Goddamn it._

"Okay," he said, clapping his hands together in an effort to ignore the fact that his face felt flaming hot. "Shuri, can we do anything else until your medical team gets here?" Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Nakia entering the room, a smile on her face. "Oh, good. Nakia, is everything signed and in agreement?"

"Yes, Mr. Stark," she said. "Your Ms. Potts drives a hard but fair deal. I believe this agreement will be very good for both of us."

"That's great!" Turning back to Shuri, he grinned at her. "So, until your medical team gets here, is there anything else we can do?"

"I'd love to learn more about the arc reactors—" Shuri started to say, only to be elbowed in the ribs by Nakia. 

She interrupted smoothly with, "It has been a very long day, Mr. Stark, and the next several days will be even longer. Perhaps it would be best for everyone to get a good night's rest?"

With the solution so close, it seemed like an impossible task to stop _now_. Then Tony caught the look on Bucky's face, and that sealed the deal. "Of course. Can we invite you to our team quarters to join us for dinner?"

Shuri looked interested, but subsided when Nakia shook her head. "We must return to our hotel, Mr. Stark," Nakia said. "I must report the contents of today's agreement to our council and to King T'Challa. Perhaps another night."

"But—" Shuri started to say, but Nakia shook her head decisively. 

"Another night, once this project is complete," she said, voice firm, and Shuri sighed and rolled her eyes. 

"We'll have a party to celebrate," Tony offered. He watched as Nakia steered Shuri towards the door, and then said loudly enough for everyone in the room to hear, "Okay, dinner in the penthouse in like an hour, depending on when we can get it delivered. Reed, invite Sue and Ben, but tell Johnny he has to stay home—he set fire to the couch the last time he was here. Get your orders in to FRIDAY—anything you want, she can get and will coordinate a delivery service to get it all here."

Reed laughed a little, sounding a bit punch drunk. "Sorry, Tony, but I think I'm going to pass on dinner. Sue will want to see me without the whole crowd. Maybe when this is done I can get everyone over. For now, I'm going to go home and spend some time with her."

Tony eyed him suspiciously. "Who are you and what did you do with Reed? You're not being a dick."

Reed just laughed again and made his way out of the lab. Tony stared after him absently until a touch on the shoulder brought him back to the real world. Bucky was standing there, smiling, and Tony felt his own face break into one in response.

"Steve's going to take care of our order," Bucky said. "Let's go get you cleaned up, yeah?"

"I'm not that bad—it was all holograms today," Tony said, looking at his hands and arms to see if he'd managed to get into some oil or something that he'd forgotten about.

Bucky sighed and shook his head. "I'm trying to get you alone, Tony."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Bruce herding Fitz and Simmons out of the room. "Send the teams home," he called out, and Bruce waved an acknowledgement before disappearing into the hall. At some point, Steve had disappeared as well, leaving Bucky and Tony alone in the lab. 

Looking back at Bucky, he went back to grinning. "You've got me alone. You have a plan past that?"

"Just two things," Bucky said. He leaned forward and pressed a slow, chaste kiss to Tony's mouth, but when Tony tried to deepen it, he pulled away, "That's thing one. Thing two is to say thank you, because I know I've made all of this much more difficult than it needed to be."

Tony started to shake his head, but Bucky rolled his eyes, and Tony sighed. "Well, okay, I would have liked less arguing, but I have a feeling that you're always going to keep me on my toes. And that's not a bad thing. So, you're welcome. Can I kiss you some more?"

"Just for a few minutes," Bucky said. "You're the one who decided for a team dinner in the penthouse, and I know by now word has been relayed to Pepper’s and Coulson's teams, so you have to at least put in an appearance."

"Damn, I'm stupid," Tony said, laughing. "You know, no one would be surprised if I didn't show up because I was spending time with you."

"Team's important too, you need to put in an appearance. After dinner—well, I'd like to spend the night with you if you're not tired of me in your space."

Tony ran his fingers down Bucky's cheek. "I don't think I will ever get tired of you in my space," he said. "You're always welcome."

"Even if I'm not interested in sex tonight?" Bucky asked, the tips of his ears turning pink. "It's been a day full of ups and downs and I don't think I can be any good at it right now."

"If you thought I was just into you for sex, I've screwed up," Tony said, trying to make sure Bucky knew he was serious. "Don't get me wrong, sex with you is amazing and I'm looking forward to a lot of it, but it's not the only thing."

The corners of Bucky's mouth twitched, and he said, "Yeah. I'm also a mechanic's challenge."

It was Tony's turn to roll his eyes. "Look, the last couple of weeks have been really busy, full of all sorts of chaos and drama, but I really do like you for you. And I look forward to getting to know you even better, in all sorts of ways. But for now, kiss me, and then let's go eat dinner so we can get an early night. The next few days are going to be busy one way or another."

This time, Bucky gave him an honest and open smile, and Tony thought to himself that that was worth a hundred days of no sex, if it meant he got all of those smiles for himself.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony distracts Bucky from the fact that Shuri has requested a specialist from Wakanda to consult about Bucky's shoulder.

Dinner had been loud and boisterous, but Tony realized after a while that Bucky's smile was looking strained and he was laughing less. Just as he was starting to wonder if he should suggest going back to his suite, Steve whispered something in Bucky's ear, causing him to blush bright red.

Before he could ask, though, Steve was beelining towards him, Bucky in tow. "You two should go to bed," Steve said, his voice subtle enough that it wouldn't be heard over Thor reciting some Asgardian epic. "Both of you are probably exhausted."

"Does this mean no more stink-eye from you, Rogers?" Tony cursed his inability to keep his mouth shut. 

Steve shrugged. "I'm still not sure that it's a great idea, but no one can argue that you haven't been doing everything in your power to help, and from what Bucky has said, you've made no unreasonable demands. Keep that up and it'll all be good."

Tony knew that that was as close to a blessing from Steve as he was likely to get right now, so he just smiled. Turning his attention to Bucky, he said, "We can go if you're ready to head out. Or we can stay. Completely up to you."

"I'd just as soon go back to your rooms," Bucky admitted, and he sounded beyond tired. 

Nodding, he held out his hand to see if Bucky would take it, and it did something funny to his insides when Bucky grabbed on without any hesitation. Normally he would have made a big production of leaving early, but he didn't want to embarrass Bucky, so he just quietly started backing out of the room. He knew that their retreat was being noticed by several people, but the only one who caught his eye was Clint, who gave a wide smile and a thumbs up.

It was only half a flight up to Tony's rooms, and the two of them covered the distance quickly. As soon as the door shut, closing them up in the quiet of Tony's suite, Bucky sighed, his posture relaxing into something less rigidly stiff, and Tony wondered how much socializing in general took out of him. "Shower?" he asked.

"God, yes," Bucky said. He pulled off his shirt with his one hand, and Tony lost himself in admiring Bucky's muscular chest until Bucky gave a rusty chuckle. "You know, showers work better when we're both naked."

"Oh, oh, yeah," Tony said, turning his attention to stripping out of his clothes and dropping them in the corner—the concession he was trying to make to Bucky's insistence that he not leave his clothes everywhere.

This time, when he went to join Bucky in the shower, Bucky had already adjusted the water to a temperature that was comfortable for Tony—cool enough not to scald, warm enough that it would help him sleep. Tony urged Bucky under the spray until his hair was thoroughly wet. Grabbing the shampoo off the rack, he squirted some into his hand and then started to massage it through Bucky's hair, rubbing away some of the tension in his scalp and temples as he did so.

Bucky groaned, his head dropping forward. "Good?" Tony asked softly, trying to keep Bucky as relaxed as possible.

"Yeah. You can just keep doing that all night," he said.

"You know," Tony said. "I want you to know that this isn't just a mechanical puzzle. You're a good guy, and I really like you. You know, _like_ -like you."

Bucky chuckled, his voice low. "Yeah, I know. It was kind of a dead giveaway when you came up with a way for me to sleep with you safely that first night. And every day since. I may not have always appreciated the way you went about it, but I still like you for trying, and not just giving up on me, even when I was being stubborn."

Tony sighed. "You weren't the only one being stubborn. But we're talking now, and I'm pretty sure that both Bruce and Steve would say that we are doing better."

"Yeah." Bucky stepped away, letting the water rinse away the shampoo. "Let's finish getting clean and go to bed."

"You're right," Tony said, grabbing a couple of washcloths and handing one to Bucky. They both did a cursory job of scrubbing down and rinsing off, and then they toweled themselves dry and moved to the bedroom.

Without any further conversation, Tony slid onto the bed on his back, his arm stretched out invitingly towards Bucky, who climbed in without hesitation, curling up with his head cushioned on Tony's bicep. "Tomorrow will be a long day. FRIDAY, when we hear from Shuri or Nakia, let us know."

"Yes, boss. Should I set an alarm?"

"Nah, unless you hear from them, let us sleep it out. Black out the lights and make sure everything is dark in the lab. Let Banner in if he wants to look at something, keep everyone else out. And send a message to the research team to take the day off."

"You got it. Good night, boss."

Tony nuzzled Bucky's temple and closed his eyes. It was only a few moments before he was asleep.

He woke at some ungodly hour because Bucky was making distressed noises, tiny whimpers and groans of pain. He'd rolled away from Tony in his sleep, and Tony hesitated for only a moment before sitting up and murmuring, "Bucky. Bucky. You're fine, Bucky. You're safe."

Bucky gave one louder cry before sitting bolt upright, breathing like he'd just run twenty miles. Tony knew better than to touch him before he was certain Bucky knew where he was, so he just said, "FRIDAY, lights to twenty percent," before going back to whispering soothing nonsense at Bucky.

Slowly, Bucky's breathing calmed, and the wild-eyed look faded away from his face. _"T-tony?"_ he said, his voice heartbreakingly uncertain.

Tony worked hard to keep his voice low and even. "Yeah, Bucky. I'm here. Can I touch you?" 

"Yeah," Bucky said. "Please?"

That was all Tony needed to hear before he gathered Bucky into his arms, encouraging him to rest his face against Tony's neck. He didn't say anything about how wet Bucky's face was. Instead he just held him and rocked a little until Bucky's breathing grew even and slow. "Bucky, you ready to lie down again?"

Bucky nodded, but didn't move away from where his face was still pressed against Tony. So, Tony slowly lowered himself down, guiding Bucky with him, till they were both lying stretched out, their limbs tangled, and they were pressed together so tightly that it was hard to tell where Tony ended and Bucky began.

Tony let Bucky cling as long as he needed, rubbing his hand up and down Bucky's back, murmuring soft assurances that everything was going to be okay. Gradually, Bucky's breathing slowed even further, until a soft snore told him that Bucky had drifted back to sleep. Tony shifted slightly so that he could breathe a bit better and closed his own eyes. Sleep didn't come easily this time, because he knew in his gut that the idea of dealing with the medical team from Wakanda was what had set off Bucky's nightmare, and he couldn't help but feel guilty.

Eventually, the warm weight of Bucky on top of him let him drift off into a doze. It was lightly enough, though, that when FRIDAY said, "Boss, Captain Rogers wants to speak with you," he was able to respond immediately.

"Put him through, but keep the volume down, okay?" Tony said. There was a click as FRIDAY connected the call, and Tony said quietly, "Morning, Steve. Bucky's still sleeping."

"Explains why he didn't answer his phone. Just letting you know that we've heard from Nakia. The Wakandan medical team won't be here until late afternoon, and they have requested not to meet with Bucky until tomorrow. They want a chance to review the records first."

Bucky groaned, long and low in Tony's ear. "Okay, Steve," he said muzzily. Tony stroked his back slowly. "You need us for anything?"

"Nah. Nakia said Shuri is going to be tied up with the medical teams today. So you two should probably take it easy. Maybe come up for lunch."

"We'll think about it," Tony said. "Thanks for letting us know."

"You got it," Steve said, and then the call disconnected.

Tony continued to rub Bucky's back, not saying anything. There really wasn't much he could say. 

Eventually Bucky sighed and rolled to the side. "Sorry," he said.

"Nothing to be sorry for," Tony said. "I'd be more surprised if you didn't have a nightmare after everything that's been going on." Then he asked, mostly because he felt like he should, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't have anything to say," Bucky said. "But you know, if we're not going to the lab today, I can think of a few things I wouldn't mind doing." He pressed a kiss to Tony's shoulder.

"You sure? You weren't interested last night." 

"That was last night," Bucky said. "Today is a different story. I want to be distracted."

Tony figured he couldn't really blame Bucky. He didn't want to dwell on the possibilities either, and it wasn't even _his_ arm. "How about a blowjob?" he asked, rather than argue the point.

"Better idea—how about a sixty-nine?" Bucky suggested, and yeah, that sounded amazing.

"How do you want to do this?" Tony asked, not sure what would be most comfortable for Bucky, balancing with just one arm.

Bucky sat up, and then laid down with his head pointed towards the foot of the bed, with it propped on his arm. He patted the bed in front of himself and said, "Let me at you."

Tony squirmed around, fitting himself around Bucky so that his cock was even with Bucky's head, and propping his own head up, his mouth even with Bucky's cock. He started to ask if Bucky was ready, but then Bucky's mouth, warm and wet and soft, surrounded Tony’s cock, and he bit back his words. Instead, he leaned forward and dragged his tongue up Bucky's cock, from base to tip, before taking it into his own mouth. Closing his eyes, he lost himself in the dual sensation and for long, long moments, nothing mattered but pleasure—the pleasure he was feeling, the pleasure he was bringing to Bucky.

Bucky was making wonderful sounds, low groans and whimpers that shook Tony to his very core. It distracted him from the cock in his mouth, and he had to touch Bucky, had to know that this wasn't just a dream. He slid his hand down to wind through Bucky's hair and managed to focus _just_ enough to keep from pulling.

The sound that Bucky made at that was even louder, and a little desperate, and Tony echoed it. He was lost, twisted up, and then Bucky did _something_ with his tongue and it was like Tony's brain was leaking out of his ears. He lost any ability to do anything but hold Bucky's cock in his mouth and focus on not coming within seconds.

Then Bucky swallowed around the tip of Tony's cock, and that was it, Tony was going to come whether he wanted to or not. His hips jerked, even though he was trying desperately to hold them still, and then he was coming, hard and fast, before he could pull back enough to to warn Bucky that he was close. Bucky didn't stop, though. He just kept swallowing, taking all of Tony's come, and nursing him through the aftershocks as he twitched and shook.

Once Tony could get his brain working again, he was pleased with himself and thankful that he hadn't bitten Bucky in the throes of his own orgasm. He turned his attention to making Bucky feel as good as Bucky had made him feel. Slowly, he nudged his way down Bucky's cock until his nose was buried in Bucky's pubic hair, and swallowed hard around the thick head of his cock. It cut off his air, but he could take it for a few more seconds, so he swallowed over and over before pulling back enough to get a breath. Then he went right back to taking Bucky as deep as he could.

Bucky had released Tony's cock, and somewhere above Tony he was murmuring, "Oh, god, Tony, so good. Your mouth is so good—just perfect. Yeah, just like that. Keep swallowing, darlin', and I'm going to come. Please, oh, _god_ , please—"

Tony couldn't do anything but do as he was asked, and he could feel the way that Bucky's already-impressive cock was swelling even further, choking him, making it harder to stay deep, but he did his best and suddenly Bucky choked out, "God, Tony, coming. I'm coming now!"

He knew that Bucky meant it as a warning, but he didn't care. He was going to suck him through it, and swallow every drop. Bucky shot hard, right down the back of Tony's throat, thick and bitter, and Tony worked hard to make sure none of it made it out of his mouth. He softened his hold, but continued to lick and suck until Bucky said, his voice hoarse, "God, enough, Tony. That's just—you're so good at that."

Letting Bucky's cock slip from his lips, he tilted his head so that he could meet Bucky's gaze. "You're not half bad yourself," he said, and his voice was ragged as hell. "That was fun—give me an hour and we can do it again."

Bucky smiled, and sat up, pulling away from Tony in the process. Before Tony could protest, though, Bucky was twisting around and lying down facing the right direction in the bed, pressed up close to Tony. "Thanks," he said, soft and serious.

Tony knew that this wasn't just about the blowjob—it was obvious from the way that Bucky said it. But he didn't want to deal with it right now, so instead he just said, "Hey, mutual blowjobs are always great."

With a snort, Bucky said, "We're going to have to talk eventually. You know that, right?"

"Eventually, I guess. But right now, let's just enjoy the afterglow." Tony knew that he hadn't done anything to piss Bucky off, but he didn't want to deal with emotions right now. He just wanted to drowse in the feel of being thoroughly satisfied and pleased with the world. ‘Later’ would be soon enough.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They meet the Wakandan medical team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starkbucks prompt I3 "Desert Island" and a third bingo!
> 
> And that's it for this card :)

Other than lunch and dinner with the team, Tony and Bucky spent the day quietly in Tony's suite. It was obvious that Bucky didn't want to talk about what might or may not happen with the Wakandan medical team, so they talked about other things—foods that they each liked, their favorite places to hide when the world became too much, what they'd like to try next. Tony wanted to take Bucky to a private island. Bucky wanted to take Tony to Coney Island.

By the time they returned to the room after dinner, they were both quiet. But it wasn't an uncomfortable silence—it was the quiet of two people who just wanted to share space without necessarily having to fill it. Relatively early, Bucky cast an asking glance at Tony, and after a minute to figure out the question, Tony nodded. Hand in hand, they headed to the bedroom, stripping down to their boxers and climbing into the bed.

Tony thought about offering sex, but Bucky didn't seem receptive to the idea, and Tony didn't want to push. Depending on what the Wakandans found, tomorrow could be a big day, and it was clear that that fact was weighing heavily on Bucky. All Tony could do was open his arms and hold him close.

Neither one of them slept. Tony spent the night staring at the shadows crawling across the ceiling, and in his arms, Bucky held himself tight and stiff. Finally, as the sun started to rise, Tony said, "Should we go to the lab?" The Wakandans wouldn't be there yet, but it was better than staying here, both of them wrapped in anxiety.

"Yeah," Bucky said, and the two of them rolled out of bed and headed to the bathroom. After a quick shared shower, the two of them dried off, got dressed, and headed down to the lab.

Even though it was barely light outside, the two Wakandan guards were standing outside the lab. It took a second for Tony to realize that Bucky had come to a stop next to him. Tony glanced at him. "Bucky?" he asked, trying to keep his voice soft and even.

Bucky was chewing on his lip, and he looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here. But instead of objecting to going inside, he took a deep breath and said, "Okay, let's do this thing," and started forward.

Tony took him by the hand and gave it a squeeze as the guards uncrossed their spears and let them into the lab. It was quieter than it had been in days, just Shuri, Nakia, and two others who Tony didn't recognize, a man and a woman.

There was a small hologram in front of them, and the man was manipulating it. It took Tony a moment to realize that instead of machinery, the hologram was an image of the nerves, muscles, and bones of Bucky's shoulder, overlaid with Hydra's metal reinforced plating. He glanced at Bucky out of the corner of his eye, and yeah, Bucky looked vaguely green, He didn't stop though, walking over to the small group and giving them a devil-may-care-grin that Tony knew was fake, through and through. "’Morning, Shuri, and Nakia," he said, and all Tony could do was follow along in his wake.

"Good morning Bucky, Tony," Shuri said with a cautious smile. "Our medical team was excited to look at the information that they could only access here, and it feels much later in the day for them. FRIDAY allowed us to enter."

"Of course," Tony said. He hadn't actually given FRIDAY permission, but in some ways she was even more independent than JARVIS had been.

"Good. Bucky, may I introduce you to our doctors?" she asked.

"Okay, yeah," Bucky said after a deep breath. 

"This is good," she said. Pointing at the man who had been playing with the diagram, she said, "This is Daluxolo. He specializes in prosthetics and is the best in our country. Next to him is Khethiwe, his wife and one of our most renowned orthopedic surgeons. Wakanda has sent only their best to assist you if you are willing."

Bucky nodded, his hair falling forward and hiding his face a little. "Thank you for coming," he said. "I, um, I appreciate it."

Khethiwe stepped forward. "Sergeant Barnes, the Princess has been understandably circumspect about the particular circumstances that led to this, but she has told us enough that we appreciate that you have experienced a series of truly unfortunate events. While we cannot undo those events, we can certainly help bearing their outcomes much easier."

Bucky nodded and then lifted his head, meeting her gaze head- on. "I'm sure that you can help. I just hope that there aren't any of your people going without because you're here," he said.

She smiled, lighting up her stern face. "Sergeant, based on the information that Shuri has given us, those in Wakanda who are in need of this kind of work are going to benefit from our work here. For that, they can spare us for a few days."

"Just a few days?" Tony interrupted.

"Yes," Daluxolo said. "To get maximum benefit of what a dedbo prosthesis can do, there will need to be a surgery to correctly route the connections under the plate. But looking at the various scans that have been performed, it shouldn't take more than a day or two to plan, a few hours for the surgery, and perhaps two days of recovery before connecting the new prosthetic. That is, of course, assuming that you really are as good as Shuri says, and it can be built that fast?"

There was a sly lilt to his words, and Tony knew he was being baited. It was all he could not to play into it, but instead Tony swallowed his first response. "I'm sure between the two of us, we can build something that Bucky would be happy to have. But he hasn't agreed to have surgery yet—Shuri promised no one would touch him without explaining to him exactly what they were going to do, so why don't you show him?"

"Of course," Daluxolo said. "Miss FRIDAY, if you please?"

FRIDAY didn't say anything, but the hologram that the four Wakandans had been looking at became much larger, and Khethiwe started to pull it apart, showing them how the socket for Bucky's previous arm was attached, and what they would do surgically to fix it and make it work better if they were allowed.

Tony had to admit he was impressed, because at no point did the doctor treat Bucky as unworthy of respect, or in any way imply that if he declined to do this that it would have been a massive waste of her time. 

Tony didn't follow her explanation exactly—as long as his body kept working, he was happy to let it go on its own way, but Bucky asked several very pointed and direct questions that Khethiwe answered without any hesitation that implied she could be lying or improvising things she didn't know.

After she walked them through what they'd do surgically, step by step, Daluxolo stepped in to explain how the new prosthetic would be connected, and what he expected it to be able to do based on the diagrams and explanations that Shuri had given him.

"Wakandan prosthetics are already set up in such a way as to convey sensation," he said. "But they don't do much to increase strength or speed. The virtual prototype that Shuri and Mr. Stark designed will do both. Shuri noted that you have a slight lag in response from your old arm. With the proper connections and the frankly amazing power source Shuri has described, there shouldn't be any."

"How long would it be before I'd be able to use the arm?" Bucky asked, and it was obvious from the frank curiosity in his voice that he was intrigued at the possibility.

"To be honest, Sergeant Barnes, as you have extensive experience with a vastly inferior prosthetic, it would not surprise me if you managed to be at close to full capacity within a day, perhaps two, of it being integrated. I'd expect that you would have full mastery very shortly thereafter, since the nerve conduction would be working properly."

Khethiwe stepped in. "It is possible, however, that because your previous prosthetic was not correctly placed, it might take longer than average for you to adjust, because your brain is going to have to learn whole new ways to go about its use."

Bucky nodded seriously. "I need to think about this. I don't want to hold you here in the U.S. longer than you can be spared, though. Can I give you an answer this afternoon?"

"Of course, Sergeant," Daluxolo said. "This is not a decision to be made lightly. With your permission, however, we'd like to start working on what exactly would need to be done if you decide to go forward with the procedure."

Bucky nodded, again chewing his lip. "I—I'm going to go for a walk," he said. 

"Do you want me—" Tony started to ask.

"No, I don't think so," Bucky said. "I need my head clear to think about what I'm willing to do. Being around you makes me forget things. Normally that's a good thing, but not right now."

Tony tried not to be hurt by Bucky's words, but they still hit like a slap to the face. He didn't say anything about it, though. He just nodded and watched as Bucky walked out of the lab.

"Do you know, Mr. Stark, that even some of our own people are resistant to modern prosthetics?" Daluxolo asked, his voice low and soothing. "It is a big decision, with long ranging effects. If he can make the decision in one day, then he is doing much better than many facing it."

That was actually reassuring, in its own way. Tony nodded. "While he's deciding, what do we do?"

Shuri gave a wide smile. "It looks like we're going to have to do preliminary designs of two prosthetics. That should keep us busy for a few hours, yes?"

"Yes, I guess."


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky makes a decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're in the home stretch - story is finished and edited, so I'll be able to continue to post while working on Nanowrimo. Chapter a day until done!

Normally, Tony would have been able to lose himself in the fascination of learning a new field. Simmons and Bruce joined them after about an hour, and there was a lot of cheerful bickering and competitiveness in packing as much utility in as small a space as they could.

Lunch was brought in by Steve, but when Tony caught his eye, Steve just shook his head ‘no’ and left the lab again. While everyone dug into the food that had been delivered, he picked at his sandwich and tried to stop running probabilities in his head.

After a short eternity, the door to the lab opened again, and this time it was both Bucky and Steve. "Have you made a decision, Sergeant?" Shuri asked.

"I have. I'd be a fool to turn this down. That said, I am really reluctant to have surgery with people I don't know—no offense."

"None taken," Khethiwe said. "What would help?"

"I want Steve and Tony there when you operate on me, and I don't want general anesthetic. I'll agree to a light sedative and a nerve block," Bucky said. He was clearly a little uncertain, but Tony could see his logic.

"We can do that," Khethiwe said. "However, this will be a fairly complex surgery. Even if you can't feel it, it could be very disturbing to watch. We would like to have a stronger sedative on hand in case you need it, because once we start, it would be inadvisable to stop."

Bucky started to open his mouth, but Steve leaned forward and squeezed his shoulder. At that, Bucky seemed to relax some. "Agreed," he said. "So, what do you need from me?"

Khethiwe said, "I will need to do some detailed scans of your shoulder joint as it exists now, so I can get a clearer idea of what we have to work with."

Bucky nodded, and sat down where she indicated. She started to make passes over his shoulder with a small hand-held device, and in front of Tony's eyes, a 3D image of the joint was appearing in mid-air. He would have continued to watch in fascination, but Shuri tugged on his arm.

"Let's leave them to it," she said. "You and I now know which version of the arm we need to build, so we should start on that so it's ready when he is,"

Tony gave himself a shake and turned his attention to her and Daluxolo. "FRIDAY, shelve the plans for the arm using Bucky's current shoulder configuration and save it to the inactive projects folder," he said. "Throw up the plans for the other version."

The three of them took the preliminary design that they had started earlier in the day and started from scratch, The only thing that was non-negotiable was the use of an arc reactor to power the arm, but even that was shifted around based on Daluxolo's suggestion, as the original location might have caused issues with the connections. 

As they worked their way down the arm, filling in the gears and connections they'd need to make the arm work just like a human arm, only with greater strength and power, Tony shamelessly borrowed from the suit plans in his head. Which reminded him—"Bucky, do you want any weapons embedded in your arm?"

When Bucky answered, it was from directly behind Tony's left shoulder, making him jump. "I wouldn't say no to something like a garrotte or even a gun," he said.

Tony said, "I swear I'm going to get you a collar with a bell." He couldn't miss the way that Bucky's eyes went dark at that, but he left it alone. ''Can't do a regular gun—it would be too cumbersome to reload. But I could put in a laser sight and a repulsor."

Bucky laughed. "You are not turning my arm into another version of your suit, Tony. I don't need anything as fancy as a repulsor. I'll take the laser sight, though."

"You got it." He went over to where he kept the Avengers equipment that he was working on, and pulled out one of Bucky's guns. "You're ambidextrous, right?"

"... Yeah…?" Bucky said, his voice rising in question.

"I need to see how you hold this in your right hand to figure out the best place to put the sight on the other arm," Tony said, tossing him the gun.

Bucky yelped and caught it, flipping it right way up without any hesitation. "What are you doing, throwing guns?" Bucky asked, even as his index finger came to rest between the frame and the slide in perfect trigger discipline.

"Who do you think I am?" Tony asked. "It was unloaded. Now hold it up just like you're going to fire it..." Bucky continued to glare but obeyed. Ignoring the glare, Tony said, "FRIDAY, figure out where he'd need a sight in his hand for perfect targeting."'

"Working, boss," FRIDAY said, and then a few moments later, a red dot appeared on the prosthetic in the appropriate place. "I suggest that you make it adjustable, boss. Sergeant Barnes may be ambidextrous, but we don't know if there are changes to his posture or position from arm to arm."

"Yeah, yeah, of course." Taking the gun back from Bucky, he tucked it back in the drawer.

Shuri spoke up. "Have those weapons been there all this time?"

"Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t they be?" Tony asked, confused.

Shuri turned to look at Khethiwe and Daluxolo. "Nakia must never know," she said.

Khethiwe said, "But Shuri—"

" _Never_. I will never hear the end of it if you tell her."

Tony watched the interchange with confusion. "What's the problem? This is where I work on all of the Avengers gear, weapons included—it's one of the reasons why the lab is the most secure room in the building."

Shuri shot him a quick look. "Of course you should do your own work in your own lab. But I didn't see any weapons when we first got here, so I told her to keep my bodyguards in the hall. She would be most displeased to find out that I made a snap judgment that was so poorly conceived."

With a laugh, Tony shook his head. "I refuse to believe, Shuri, that you didn't realize that the danger that first day was the Hulk, and not an inanimate piece of metal and plastic."

She smiled back. "Ah, but we had contingencies for him. For regular weapons—let's just say I'm grateful you took being invaded that first day as well as you did."

"I'm glad I didn't toss you out just on principle," he said in response. "Now, come on—getting all of this physically fabricated is going to take time, so let's get these plans finalized."

The three of them performed a complicated ballet of moving around each other as they finished the last details of the arm. "Bucky, do you still want your red star?" Tony asked as they got down to finalizing the finish of the arm.

"No, I don't think so," Bucky said, from where he was sitting off to the side. "I think maybe... maybe the Avengers’ _‘A?’"_

Tony stopped to meet his eyes, then gave a decisive nod. "Good choice," he said, and with a flourish, dropped the appropriate design into place. "Okay, the schematic is done, I think." Turning to look at Shuri and Daluxolo, he asked, "Do you agree?"

Shuri exploded the diagram to its widest image, and the two of them walked through it, pulling apart and putting back the various parts. Then she looked at Daluxolo and said, "I'm not the prosthetics expert. Daluxolo, does it meet with your approval?"

He pulled a few pieces to the side, peering at them closely, and then said, "Yes, I believe this will be an impressive prosthetic that will serve the Sergeant well. I approve."

Tony clapped his hands, and the diagram coalesced to the solid piece and then disappeared, "You hear that, FRIDAY? Now, the only question is do we use the dedbo from Russia, or did you bring any with you?"

"Surely you do not think we would be so careless as not to bring the proper alloy with us?" Daluxolo asked. "We use an alloy of the dedbo combined with odrian. The original alloy used by the USSR was with clionium, but odrian is a much better choice. It adds strength and flexibility without dampening any of the ability of the dedbo to conduct electrical impulses."

"Interesting," Tony said. "I'd love to have a sample to study."

"My understanding of the agreement reached between Wakanda and Stark Industries allows for a limited amount to be sent to you on a regular basis for your use in developing prosthetics for your people."

"Great," Tony said. He would have been more enthusiastic about it, but he was more motivated to see the arm put together. "Do you need to get back to your hotel to get the alloy?"

"No need, we brought plenty," Daluxolo said, going to the edge of the room and picking up a case that Tony hadn't noticed before. "For the component parts of the arm that don't need to be dedbo, what metal were you planning to use? I did not recognize the chemical composition in your design."

"Titanium single crystal. It's what I use in the suit, and it seems like it would be ideally suited for the uses that Bucky puts his arm to."

"You _really_ don't need to turn my arm into another suit," Bucky said with a laugh.

"I'm not," Tony said. "This is just the arm, for starters. But it will improve you using it to block gunshots, and is incredibly strong without being brittle."

"Don't you only have a limited amount of it?" Shuri asked.

"I've got enough on hand for this, and I've got suppliers who can get me more when I need it," Tony answered, "Bucky might not be willing to let me give him a repulsor, but at least I can create the arm to be the strongest thing I can make."

"May I see the chemical formula?" Shuri asked. "I'd like to make sure that it won't interact in some sort of negative way with the dedbo."

"It's an inert metal," Tony said, "But sure. FRIDAY, bring it up."

The chemical structure hung in mid-air, and Shuri and Daluxolo stepped forward to review them. After a few moments, they murmured to each other and then Shuri said, "Yes, this should be perfect."

"Great. Let's get the fabrication units up and running. Something like this, with unfamiliar materials, may take them a day or so to produce." Turning his attention to the orthopedist, he asked, "How long do you need before you can do the procedure?"

"The metal socket for the shoulder looks like the most complicated part of this," Khethiwe said. "Assuming that you have access to an anesthesiologist and a surgical suite at a hospital, we could do this tomorrow."

"Don't need to go to a hospital for that," Tony said. "We've got a fully functional OR in our medical suite downstairs. Would you be willing to let me get you one of our on-call orthopedists from the hospital to assist so that if we get a prosthetics division off the ground, we won't be starting from scratch on that part?"

"Of course. That would work perfectly, assuming they can fit us in their schedule."

Tony laughed. "For the amount of money I donate to the hospital, I'm pretty sure they can make time." He turned to face Bucky. "You still good with this? From here it's going to move pretty fast if I can get their ortho here tomorrow."

Bucky looked nervous, but nodded. "Let's get this done before I can overthink it."

"You heard the man, FRIDAY," Tony said. "Dummy, come here."

Dummy rolled over, giving an inquisitive whistle. "Daluxolo, can I have about a kilogram of that alloy?"

Daluxolo provided it, and Tony in turn gave it to Dummy. "Take this to the fabrication units," he said. "Do not detour, or decide to play with it because it's shiny, got it?"

Dummy whistled again, taking the lump of silvery blue metal in his array and rolling off. When Tony turned back to the group, Shuri was watching with fascination. "Is he an AI as well?"

"Of a sort," Tony said. "He's not as complex as FRIDAY, but he's still capable of enough independent thought to decide to ignore orders just to be a pain in my ass."

The whole group chuckled, but as Tony looked over them, he realized that the two Wakandan doctors looked exhausted, and Bucky looked nervous. Well, there were things he could do about both things. "FRIDAY, please contact the hospital and see if our go-to ortho is free tomorrow—or can be made free for a few hours. Why don't the rest of us go up to the common area and relax for a little while until we hear?"

Shuri spoke before the other two could. "Of course we will welcome and accept your hospitality," she said, and while the two doctors exchanged glances, they didn't argue. So the whole group piled into the elevator and went up to the common space, which was already bursting at the seams. It looked like everyone was there, including Coulson and the rest of his team in addition to all of the Avengers.

Within no time, the two “domestic” teams had enveloped the Wakandans, and Tony had to laugh as he realized that Thor had gotten his hands on Shuri and was asking her about Wakandan knowledge of space. He thought about interjecting, but then he was being pulled aside by Steve and forgot about it for the moment.

"I just want to say thank you," Steve said.

Puzzled, Tony asked, "For what?"

"For letting Bucky make his own choices," Steve said. "I know it wasn't easy for you."

Tony shrugged, uncomfortable with the subject. "He's a grown man, as both of you have reminded me. I want a relationship with an equal, and that means listening to what he says about his own body."

"True, but we both know that if you'd decided to, you could have found a way to push the issue," Steve said.

Tony could feel his cheeks heating and tried to will it away. He was not going to blush, damnit. Instead, he just shrugged. "We've got company we should be talking to," he said, trying to distract Steve.

Steve gave a sly smile, but he allowed Tony his distraction, and the two of them rejoined the group. There was an argument about what kind of food they should order for dinner, an argument that Tony participated in mostly for appearances’ sake. A glance at Bucky showed that he wasn't much more involved, and if it wouldn’t have been terribly rude, he’d have suggested the two of them excuse themselves.

Fuck it, it was _his_ tower. He was allowed to be rude if he wanted. "If you would all excuse me, I'm going upstairs for some rest. Bucky, do you want to join me?"

Bucky and Steve exchanged a glance, and then Bucky stood up. "I will see you tomorrow," he said to Khethiwe, and then with a smile, came over to where Tony was standing. "Okay, I'm ready."

Hand-in-hand, the two of them left the room.


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky gets prepped for surgery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter and the next owe a lot to FaeGentry, who made my hand-waves medicine a lot more accurate.

There had been a message left with FRIDAY that Bucky needed to be on the medical floor at 8:30 AM, and that he shouldn't eat or drink after midnight, so the two of them had simply curled up in bed. If Bucky had clung to Tony a little tighter than usual, Tony didn't say anything. He clung just as hard.

Tony was tired enough that he eventually drifted off, but his sleep was restless and full of images of Yinsen in his dreams, so it was almost a mercy when FRIDAY woke them up. They got cleaned up and dressed without a word, and Tony took the unprecedented step of skipping his coffee since Bucky couldn't have anything.

Bucky seemed to be mired in a sort of contemplative silence, one that Tony didn't want to interrupt, so he just held Bucky's hand as the elevator descended to the 45th floor.

Inside, the front desk directed them back to the OR area. Tony hated this area. He'd spent too much time here either waiting to hear if a teammate was going to be okay or as a patient himself, but he was distracted by Khethiwe talking with the orthopedist he had met a few times but whose name was escaping him. 

She looked up and gave a soft smile. "Good morning Mr. Stark, Sergeant Barnes. This is Dr. Andrew Normandy from the hospital."

Bucky spoke for the first time all morning. "You know, Khethiwe, if you're going to be messing around in my shoulder, you should probably call me Bucky."

Her grin grew wider and less guarded at that. "Okay, Bucky. Dr. Normandy and I were just going over what we plan to do today. You still require that we use the nerve block and sedative instead of general anesthesia?"

He nodded. "I'm sure. I don't—I just don't want it."

"All right, Bucky. We have gone over everything we plan to do, and Dr. Normandy understands the plan. Mr. Stark's—"

"Tony," he interrupted. "I should have told you yesterday. I hate being called Mr. Stark."

That got a bit of a laugh. "Okay, well, _Tony's_ fabrication unit finalized everything we'd need last night. We have several different versions of the mounting plate to work with, depending on what exactly we find when we remove the current one."

"Steve—" Bucky started to say.

"Is right here," Steve said from the entrance to the suite. "Good morning, doctors. I assume you have somewhere you want Tony and me to sit."

"Yes," Dr. Normandy said. "I understand that Sergeant Barnes has requested you be present, but given the size of the room, would it be acceptable for them to sit just outside? The fewer people in the room, the smaller the chance of infection."

Bucky looked torn, and Khethiwe leaned forward to take his hand in hers. "Bucky, I give you my oath that nothing will happen that hasn't already been discussed. They will be right outside the door, and since you will be awake, we can even use the intercom for you to talk to them if you want."

"I guess that will work," Bucky said. He didn't look thrilled with the prospect, chewing on his lip, but Tony figured reluctant agreement was probably as good as they were going to get.

"Good," Khethiwe said. "Then let us begin. Your friends may stay with you here while the anesthesiologist begins the process and we get you set up."

"Okay." Bucky hesitated, then pulled his shirt off, showing the smooth piece of metal that covered his shoulder. With the nurse's help, he was soon out of his pants as well, and into a hospital gown snapped in an origami-like configuration that left the left side open while mostly covering the rest of him.

At the urging of the nurse, Bucky lay down on the ultrasound table, and the nurse started an IV saline drip. 

He retrieved a glass vial from the nearby countertop, and told Bucky, “This is a mild sedative, it should reduce your anxiety as the anesthesiologist starts the nerve block.” Bucky nodded silently, closing his eyes as the nurse dispensed the sedative into the IV line. “Are you cold?” the nurse asked, and Bucky shook his head ‘no.’ “Would you like a warm blanket anyway?” the nurse continued, and Bucky, pausing, nodded.

After a few minutes, his breathing slowed and evened out as the medicine took effect, and his muscles relaxed a fraction. On Bucky’s other side, the anesthesiologist had him turn his head away to face the nurse, and Steve and Tony just behind him. The nurse stepped back, quietly gesturing to invite them to stand closer. Tony took Bucky’s hand lightly, and Steve rested a broad palm on Bucky’s hip over the warm blanket. Explaining each step as she went, the anesthesiologist sprayed a topical pain medicine on the skin around the join of Bucky’s neck and shoulder, giving it a few minutes to absorb. She followed it with an anesthetic injection, to numb the area from the inside. Using the ultrasound to guide her, she used what she called an ‘echogenic needle’ to insert the ‘interscalene catheter,’ her voice calm, and that this would allow her to add additional doses of the nerve block agent during the course of the procedure if Bucky felt anything at all. 

She injected Bucky with the first dose of the nerve block agent, then walked around to his other side, effectively trading places with Steve. "Sergeant Barnes, I'm going to give you a milder version of the same sedative they used when you had your MRI. It won't take long to take effect, so if you want to say anything to your friends before surgery, now is when you should say it."

Bucky looked back and forth between Steve and Tony. "Hey Steve, don't get into any trouble while I'm out of commission. You got me, punk?"

"Looks like you're the one in trouble, jerk. But I think I can keep it together while you're lollygagging around." Steve had a sunny smile on his face, but Tony knew that his hands were clenched in tight fists behind his back. He could sympathize—while he supported this whole-heartedly, he wasn't thrilled about it being out of his control either.

Then Bucky said, "Tony, come here for a minute, would ya?" and Tony stopped worrying about Steve. 

Leaning down, , he crowded right up against the table on Bucky's right side, ignoring the nurse.

"Yeah, Bucky?"

"Thank you," Bucky said. "And, you know, I might kinda like you a whole lot."

"I like you a whole lot too," Tony said, leaning down to brush a kiss over Bucky's cheek. "I'll see you when you're done." He and Steve waited in the prep room as Bucky was being wheeled through the doors to the operating room. 

"You'd better." Bucky looked away, craning his neck around to where the nurse and the anesthesiologist stood by the doorway to the OR and said, "I'm ready, Let's do this thing."


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky has surgery. Also, three little words may have been said.
> 
> 3 Chapters left to go!

After all of the lead-up, the surgery itself was almost anti-climactic. Through the open intercom, Tony and Steve could hear the soft talking of the doctors, some rather disturbing sounds of saws, and Bucky occasionally calling for one of them.

Every time he did, they would answer that they were still there, that everything was going well, and he would go quiet again. In the meantime, Tony and Steve talked about literally anything that didn't have something to do with what was happening next door. They talked about training regimens. They talked about Vision's last call and the likelihood that he'd be home soon. They talked about Sam finally relocating to New York, now that he was satisfied with the replacement that the VA had hired.

They kept not talking about Bucky.

Tony had a couple of cups of coffee to chase away caffeine withdrawal, but his stomach was twisted into knots, and he couldn't even consider eating until this was over.

Finally, _finally_ they heard Khethiwe say, "It is done," and both of them were immediately on their feet. It was only when the nurse appeared in the doorway that they started to move, though, heading towards the door to the OR suite. 

Bucky looked—well, he looked surprisingly good. His shoulder was wrapped in white bandages, and the catheter for the nerve block was still there, but his IV was out, and he was sitting up. He looked tired, but his eyes were clear.

Tony hung back a little, letting Steve get to Bucky first. "You okay there, Buck?" Steve asked. 

"Yeah, no pain at all," Bucky said, his voice a little giggly. "How's it look?"

"I can't really see anything, Bucky. You're wrapped in bandages." Steve had a smile on his face that matched Bucky's but Tony couldn't blame him. Bucky was downright cute like this.

"Oh, I guess so," Bucky said. "Where's Tony?"

"I'm right here, Bucky," Tony said, moving up next to Steve. "You sound good."

"Yeah, the doctors, I guessed they fixed me right up." 

"I'm glad, Bucky." Tony was kind of at a loss for words. Bucky looked so carefree and happy, and Tony didn't know if it was the drugs, the fact that the surgery was over, or the lack of pain.

Khethiwe stepped forward at that. "Okay, gentlemen, we need to let the nurses get Bucky to the recovery room. Why don't you both take a walk and stretch your legs while we let him get settled?"

They both agreed and started back out of the OR, only for Bucky to suddenly say, "Tony, wait!"

Tony turned back and went to Bucky's side. "It's okay, Bucky. We're not going to go far."

"I know _that_ ," Bucky said dismissively. "I just want you to know, I don't just like you. I think I love you."

Those were words that Tony wanted to hear again and again, but only if Bucky said them when he wasn't drugged to the gills. He glanced around—Steve had already left the room, as had the two surgeons, but there were a handful of nurses still there. They were all looking away in a way that made Tony certain that they were absolutely listening to what was being said.

He decided that he just didn't care. So he leaned forward, brushed a kiss over Bucky's cheek, and said, "I think I love you too."

Bucky smiled, and Tony felt his heart melt. Now that those words were between them, there was no way that he was ever going to be able to say no to Bucky, and he knew it. 

Giving him another brief peck, he said, "Bucky, I need to go before the nurses set me on fire. I'll be back as soon as you're settled in recovery, okay?"

"Okay," Buck relaxed back against the raised head of the bed and his eyes drifted shut.

With another glance around the room at the nurses, Tony left the room.

Steve wasn't in the OR waiting room, which made sense. Tony headed to the area outside recovery. He discovered that they weren't the only two there—so was the rest of the team, and the team from the Bus. "Everything okay?" Steve said.

Tony wanted to shout to the rooftops that Bucky loved him, but Bucky had been stoned out of his gourd when he said it, so instead he just flashed a devil-may-care grin and said, "Yeah, it's fine."

With the large group in recovery, there was a lot of chatter. Fitz and Simmons wanted to go to the lab to see the finished prototype of Bucky's new arm. Clint and Coulson weren't actually touching, but there was a lot being said with their eyes. Natasha and Bruce weren't saying anything, but they were pressed up against each other. And all that Tony could feel was grateful that they were all there.

Finally, after a short eternity, one of the nurses came out and said, "He's sleeping. You should probably all go for a while—he'll probably be out for a few hours."

"Nah, I think we'll stay right here," Steve said. "But thank you, though."

A few minutes later, Khethiwe came out, seeming completely unsurprised that there was a crowd in the waiting room. "Steve, Tony—can I speak with you a moment?"

As soon as they were close enough, she said with a smile, "I just wanted you to know that the surgery went much more smoothly than suspected. We didn't actually have to replace the shoulder joint—just the way the connection plate connected to it. It now is properly wired into the nerve cluster."

"The nerve block should last overnight, and once it wears off he's going to have some pain, but it should heal quickly. I see no reason that he can't be released from here and over to Daluxolo for the fitting of the prosthetic and his first lessons in how it works in two days or so."

"Thank you," Steve said, sincerity in both words, and all Tony could do was echo him.

"Would it be okay if I sat with him?" Tony asked.

She gave him a knowing smile and said, "Of course. Family is always encouraged to be around those recovering. Your presence will probably be most soothing to Bucky."

Then she excused herself. Steve gestured towards the door. "Go on. I'll come in when he's awake."

Bucky was sound asleep in the recovery bed, but his color was good. Tony found a chair at the edge of the room and pulled it over next to the bed, settling in for the long haul. Because he was completely unable to sit still, though, he had FRIDAY project one of his low importance projects to his phone, where he worked on it until Bucky started to shift around.

"Hey, Bucky," Tony said. "Do you want something to drink?"

Bucky nodded, his eyes just barely open. Tony picked up the cup from the bedside table and got the straw into Bucky's mouth, letting him take a few sips. When Bucky turned his head, letting the straw drop from his mouth, Tony set it back down. "Do you remember where you are?"

"Medical floor," Bucky said. "Everything go okay?"

"Everything went great," Tony said. "Khethiwe says you should be able to be discharged in two days, but given your healing factor, I'd expect it to be sooner than that."

"Good. Don't like it here. I'd rather be in your bed." Bucky's voice had started out slurred, but the more he talked, the clearer it got.

"I'm glad. I like it when you're there too," Tony said. He desperately wanted to ask Bucky if he remembered telling Tony that he loved him, but if he didn't, Tony didn't want to put him in an uncomfortable position. So he sat there, periodically offering Bucky a sip of water, and played with his projects.

After about an hour, Bucky shifted with a little more purpose, and his eyes were more open. "Hey, Tony?" Bucky asked.

"Yeah, Bucky. I'm here."

"Did I tell you I love you?" Bucky asked, and he didn't sound like he regretted it. He just sounded honestly curious.

"You did, but you were stoned out of your gourd at the time, so don't worry about it," Tony said, determined to leave him an out.

"May have been sedated, but I still had a pretty good idea of what I was saying," Bucky said. "I just want you to know that I meant it."

"Even though I'm a workaholic pain in the ass?" Tony said, keeping his voice light. "One who doesn't know when not to push?"

"Even though, because, a little of one and a little of the other," Bucky said. "I know I haven't exactly made this easy for you."

"It's been worse for you," Tony said. 

"Let's just agree it's been terrible all around," Bucky said. "But I notice you're ignoring what I said. It's okay if you don't feel the same way."

"Didn't say that," Tony said. "I just—I love you too, but it felt like it was too soon to say it, especially with everything that's been going on."

"We're a couple of morons," Bucky said with a chuckle.

"I'd say," Steve said from the door, startling them both. "Pretty clear to me that you were both lovesick nutjobs."

Bucky rolled his eyes, but Tony felt his shoulders tense up. He hated being that obvious. "Does everybody know?"

"We haven't exactly discussed it," Steve said. "But I'm pretty sure that most everyone has clued in, yes. Not like it's going to be a problem though."

Tony wasn't really sure that he was up for the teasing that was sure to come sooner or later, but it certainly wasn't going to be enough to make him dump Bucky. He'd lost Pepper because she couldn't handle being his girlfriend without wanting him to keep regular hours and stop risking his life. He was pretty sure these weren't going to be issues for Bucky.

So he nodded, and slid out of his chair. "Your turn to sit with him for a while," he said. "I'm going to go to the lab and check the final fabrication of his new arm so when he's healed up, it's ready to go."

Steve took over the chair, and Tony leaned down to kiss Bucky—just a quick peck on the lips. "Behave so they let you out sooner," he said.

Bucky laughed a little and said, "Pot, meet Kettle. Keep yourself out of trouble until I can be there to back you up."

"You got it," Tony said.


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky gets discharged from the medical floor

Khethiwe came in to check on Bucky after he'd been moved out of recovery and into a regular bed, and blinked in surprise at what she saw under the bandages. "Your records, Bucky, they indicated an accelerated healing factor, but looking at this, I would say that you had surgery a week ago, not this morning."

Bucky nodded, squirming a little in bed. "Explains why it itches so much," he said, his hand gripping the side of the bed firmly.

"Ah, yes, that does not surprise me nearly as much. And unfortunately, with the metal reinforcing plate, our normal treatments for the itching are not options. Can you bear it? At this rate, it will probably just be tonight."

"I've dealt with worse," Bucky said.

Tony leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Too bad you're in medical, or I could distract you."

Apparently he hadn't been as quiet as he thought, because Khethiwe laughed. "There's no reason that he could not go to sleep in his own bed. The nerve block has worn off, and as long as the bandages are not disturbed, he will probably rest better."

Bucky turned to her, but before he could say anything, she added, "I would not suggest very _vigorous_ sexual activity, but if there is interest, well, who am I to tell you no?"

Tony could feel his own jaw drop open the same way he saw on Bucky's face. At the same time, they were being given permission to fool around, so he certainly wasn’t going to refuse, even if the permission was a little embarrassing.

"Does that mean that I'm being officially discharged?" Bucky asked.

"Yes, but you should plan to meet with Daluxolo and me in the morning. We will see if the area is healed enough to bear the weight of the prosthetic or if we should wait another day to be safe." Bucky looked at her a little suspiciously, which Tony didn't blame him for. This seemed to be too good to be true.

"So? Why are you still here?" she asked, her voice the very image of innocence, and Bucky smiled, wider than Tony had seen in a while.

"Nurses always want to check us out, Khethiwe," he said.

"Hah! They are the same everywhere. I will speak to them and make sure that they know you are free to go. Then eat a good dinner and perhaps find a way to distract from any discomfort."

"Yes, ma'am," Bucky said, and they both watched her walk off to the nurses' station.

"Wow, she's something. Can you imagine—there's a whole country full of people like her and Shuri?" Bucky said.

"That's a terrifying thought. The only reason they're not already running the world is because Wakanda has stayed out of the spotlight for all these years." Tony pulled back the sheet covering Bucky. He was dressed in scrubs, so he asked, "Do you want real clothes, or are these good for now?"

"Scrubs are good," Bucky said. "I'm not up for everyone, so just dinner in your apartment?"

"We can do that, but you know we should have Steve come see you first, so he knows you didn't escape."

Bucky groaned, falling back against the pillow. "He's getting even with me, I know he is," he said. "Fine. FRIDAY, could you ask Steve to come to my room and tell him it's not an emergency?"

It only took a few moments for her to relay the message that he was on his way. In the meantime, one of the nurses came over with a list of instructions about not getting the incision and anesthesia sites wet, and not doing any strenuous activity. Tony had to keep from looking at Bucky, because if he caught his eye at that, he was going to die laughing.

"What's up, Buck?" Steve said from the door. 

"Khethiwe has discharged me," Bucky said. "But I knew you were planning to come back later, so I didn't want you to worry. I'm just going to go to Tony's suite, eat dinner, and go to bed."

Tony thought he was going to choke, he was fighting so hard not to laugh.

"Do you want me to bring something up for you guys to eat?" Steve asked. Then he said, "Tony, are you okay? You choking or something?"

Tony held up his hand. "I'm good. I'm good. Just swallowed wrong. I think I've got eggs and bacon, so we're just going to do breakfast for dinner. Don't worry about putting yourself out for us."

"It wouldn't be a problem, but if you're sure." Steve was looking from Bucky to Tony and back again, and then the penny dropped. "Oh. _Oh_. Did Khethiwe say that was okay?"

Bucky rolled his eyes. "Do you really think I'd go through this just to fuck it up because I wanted to get off? Yes, it's okay, Mother Rogers. I love you like a brother, Steve, but stop worrying so much about me."

"Just like you didn't worry about me all those years, right?" Steve said. "Nah, it's good. Just, you know, be careful." If Steve had gotten any redder, the walls would have caught fire.

"We'll be good, Cap," Tony said, not wanting to make the situation any worse. Bucky was doing that just fine on his own.

Bucky turned so that his feet were on the floor. "It'll be fine, Steve. Do you want to be there tomorrow when they're fitting me with the new arm?"

"Damn straight I do," Steve said, and Tony knew that Bucky had derailed him on purpose. _Thank god._

After getting straight the time they were meeting in the lab, Steve excused himself, his face still fire truck red. Tony managed to keep from laughing until he was out of range, at least.

When Tony went to help Bucky stand up, he got a dirty look, so he stood back and watched as Bucky hauled himself up, hesitating only a moment before he started walking. "No dizziness?" Tony couldn't stop himself from asking.

"Just a little headrush when I stood up. I'm fine now, and I really want to get to your suite." Bucky meant it, too, because he was headed towards the elevator with determination.

The wait for it to get to the 45th floor seemed interminable, but it did eventually get there, and then it was just a few minutes to the floor where Tony's suite was. Inside, Tony started to head to the kitchen, only to be stopped by Bucky's hand on his shoulder. "I'm not actually hungry. Are you?"

There was no question what his answer was. "No. Want a distraction?"

"God, yes. Anything," and now that Tony was looking, he saw how pinched and drawn Bucky's face was. 

"Bucky, are you in pain?" he had to ask.

"A little. Mostly it just itches like a whole ants nest has taken up residence in my shoulder." As if to demonstrate, Bucky rolled that shoulder a little, and stopped with a wince.

"Yeah, I bet," Tony said. He led Bucky to the sofa, shoved down his scrub pants, and pushed him lightly until he sat. Grabbing a pillow, he dropped it at Bucky's feet and knelt down. "A distraction, right?"

"Oh, fuck, what have I gotten myself into?" Bucky asked, but it was with a tinge of amusement.

"Only the best kind of trouble." Tony used his shoulders to spread Bucky's legs, and leaned down to drag his tongue from his balls to the slit, finishing with a tiny little suck at the spot where his foreskin was pulled back to show the head of his cock.

Bucky yelped, and then laughed, grabbing at Tony's head with his hand. "Give a guy some warning next time, would ya?"

"What's the fun in that?" Tony asked, before starting to lick Bucky's whole cock with tiny little kitten licks. It wasn't anywhere near enough to get him off, but it certainly made him groan, which Tony chalked up as a win.

"You're a fucking tease," Bucky said. Tony didn't feel like that warranted a response, so he just kept giving those tiny licks until Bucky's hand tightened in his hair.

Then he pulled his head away, relishing the way that it tugged at his hair. "Problem?" Tony asked, blinking at Bucky innocently.

"You're still being a tease," Bucky said, his voice a low growl.

"Yeah, but you're not thinking about your shoulder right now, I bet," Tony said, with a wink.

Bucky just whimpered, his head falling back against the sofa. Tony grinned—mission accomplished—and as a reward to Bucky, sucked lightly at glans. That got him a groan, and Bucky's hips lifting off the sofa just a little.

Tony grabbed Bucky by the hips, and pressed him back down. Bucky groaned, but didn't struggle. "Please, Tony," he begged. "Oh, please."

"I thought you wanted a distraction," Tony asked, his lips millimeters from the tip, so that his breath blew right over it.

"Not as much as I want to come," Bucky said.

"Oh, I guess if you feel that way about it," Tony said, and then he took it in his mouth and slowly slid down the length, until his nose was buried in the thick thatch of hair at the base and the head was in his throat. He couldn't breathe like this, but he could swallow, so he did—once, twice, three times. Then he slowly pulled back until just the head of Bucky’s cock was still in Tony's mouth, and he ran his tongue over the slit.

Then he did it again.

By the time he'd settled into a good rhythm, Bucky was whining under his breath, hips flexing under Tony's hands and his cock leaking precome into Tony's mouth. His hand kept clenching at Tony's hair and then releasing it, as if he was just realizing he was pulling, only to do it again.

Tony let go of one of Bucky's hips and slid his hand down so that he could play gently with Bucky's balls, squeezing and rolling them in his palm. In response, Bucky spread his legs even wider, as if in invitation. 

Letting go of Bucky's other hip, he slid a finger into his mouth alongside Bucky's cock to wet it, and then slowly slid the tip back to where he could just reach Bucky's hole, circling it and pressing lightly.

Bucky cried out, his hips rising. Tony had been expecting something like that, so he didn't choke, but he had to back off quickly. 

"In me, oh, god, in me," Bucky babbled. 

Spit made crappy lube, but Tony managed to work his finger into Bucky slowly, and then he just pressed on Bucky's prostate, massaging it firmly while he sucked on the head of Bucky's cock. Within moments, Bucky was crying out and coming down Tony's throat.

"Mmm," Tony moaned as he slowly slid back from Bucky. "You are _gorgeous_ when you come. Are you that responsive when you're being fucked?"

"You're going to have to wait and see," Bucky said, but he was breathless, and his cock, which was still partially hard, started to perk back up.

Tony laughed a little. "You've gotten yours for the moment. Save it for later," he said, patting Bucky's cock fondly.

"Give me a second to find my brain and I'll return the favor," Bucky said, still breathing harshly.

"Nah, it'll save," Tony said, ignoring the way that his own cock was practically doing jumping jacks in his jeans, demanding attention. His hard-on would go away if he ignored it long enough. "You need to eat—you're burning calories healing."

Bucky sighed and held out his hand so that Tony could take it, and helped him get to his feet. Once there, Tony leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his lips, opening when Bucky's tongue pressed against him. The angle was awkward, but it was worth it to kiss Bucky and know he was tasting himself in Tony's mouth.

Finally, he had to either straighten up or fall over, so he pulled away. "Food," he said decisively. "Then rest. If you're good, I'll blow you again before bed."

"What did I do to deserve you?" Bucky asked, a fond smile on his face.

"Must have been something pretty good," Tony said, and headed to the kitchen.


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky gets his new arm.

Sleep wasn't particularly restful for either of them, but eventually the sun rose, and it was time to go to the lab to meet Khethiwe and Daluxolo. Tony helped Bucky get into a pair of jeans that he'd left in Tony's rooms, and carefully slid a t-shirt on him, trying not to disturb the bandages over his shoulder.

He was less careful with his own clothes, and he knew he probably looked a mess when they got to the lab, but he really didn't give a damn.

The bodyguards in the red didn't surprise him, nor did Shuri and Nakia's presence in the lab. Before they could do more than exchange good mornings, Steve and Bruce came in as well. Tony wondered if there were too many people here for something that might be hard for Bucky, but he was more than capable of telling people to leave if he wanted.

Khethiwe carefully peeled back the bandages over Bucky's shoulder and then had a rapid conversation with Daluxolo in their native language, both of them gesturing at each other and at Bucky's shoulder.

"Excuse me," Bucky said, his voice strained. "What's the problem?"

"Problem? There is no problem," Daluxolo said. "We are just both surprised at how well this seems to have healed. There is definitely no issue with connecting the new arm to the joint today, but I want to remind you that it will function very differently from the one you had previously. Do not be surprised if it does not work correctly from the first. It may take many days of therapy to get used to it."

"I understand," Bucky said. "But we won't know until we attach the arm to it, so can we _please_ do that?"

Daluxolo smiled. "I am sorry, Bucky. I forget that this is even more personal for you. Of course." He turned to look at Tony. "Has the manufacturing finished?"

"Yep," Tony said, going to fetch it from the table where it was resting. The silver metal, highlighted with black along the welds, showed off the blue Avengers symbol beautifully. He could easily lift it in one hand, but carried it as if it was a priceless artifact. Right now, this arm was literally a one-of-a-kind item, and there was no way he was risking damage when they were so close to the goal. He knew that was a ridiculous feeling. This arm was the strongest thing in the room, and yet, he was as protective of it as he wanted to be of Bucky.

Handing it over to Daluxolo felt a little like handing him a child, and Daluxolo took it with all the gravitas that Tony could ask for. From the outside, the arm looked like it connected with a simple latch, but Tony understood that the truly intricate parts were actually under the metal plate of Bucky's socket fixture, where that connected to the nerve complex in his shoulder.

Connecting the two only took Daluxolo a matter of seconds, and then Bucky's face lit up. "I can feel it," he said. "It's—it's not quite like my other arm, but I can definitely feel it."

"Very good," Daluxolo said. "Now, let's try something basic. Do not think about it. Just clench both hands into fists."

Bucky's right hand immediately clenched. There was a few seconds' delay on the left side, and then slowly, that hand folded into a fist as well. Light glinted off his fingers as they moved.

"Wonderful!" Daluxolo was grinning. "This bodes very well for how fast you will be able to adjust." 

Bucky's smile was smaller, but no less heartfelt. "I can feel that," he said. "I can _feel_ that!"

"Then all is as it should be," Khethiwe said. "Gentlemen, Nakia, Princess Shuri, I believe we can tentatively say the surgery was successful."

Daluxolo started running Bucky through some other assessment and function tests, and while his responses were slow, and took some thought to push through, there was nothing that Bucky actually _failed_ at. Eventually, Tony stepped in to measure the amount of force and pressure that Bucky could exert with the new hand, and the tension and resistance in the range of motion of each of the individual joints. Compared to his original arm, both were greater, but he could exert almost exactly the amount of pressure he wanted.

"No more crushed tabletops unless you want to," Tony said, and Bucky reached out—slowly and a bit unsteadily—with his new arm, wrapped it around Tony's bicep, and pulled him in for a deep kiss.

It was a kiss that Tony returned enthusiastically. He completely forgot about their audience until Steve said, "Tony—if you don't let Shuri look at Bucky's arm, she may explode."

Tony took a reluctant step backwards, and Shuri stepped forward. Without touching, she peered at the arm. "Can you try bending your joints independently, Bucky?" she asked. "I wish to see—"

Before she could finish her sentence, Bucky was slowly working his way through the joints in his arm, from his shoulder down to his fingers. There was no jerking, no twitching, just a relatively smooth flow from one position to the next. Shuri's smile was blinding, but it was nothing to the feeling building inside Tony's chest. 

"Looking good, there, Buck," Steve said with a smile. "Are you satisfied?"

"That doesn't even begin to cover it," Bucky said. 

Daluxolo said, "I would suggest that you spend time every day doing the exercises I will teach you, until your prosthetic reacts as instinctually as your natural arm."

"Absolutely. Anything," Bucky said. "What can I do to thank you?"

"Our understanding of the agreement between Wakanda and Stark Industries means that our people will benefit greatly from this, so you can consider us thanked more than sufficiently." Khethiwe patted Bucky on the bicep of his prosthetic, bringing an expression of pure joy to his face.

There was a small petty voice in Tony's head that said that he should be the one bringing that expression to Bucky's face. The intelligent part of his brain quickly hammered that part into submission. 

"You know, I'm used to being the most brilliant person in the room," he said to Shuri. "But I think you and I are off to the start of a beautiful partnership."

She laughed at that. "I think you may be correct, Tony," she said. "Between the two of us, I believe we can revolutionize the world."

"I am looking forward to it," Tony said, holding out his hand for her to shake. She took it, and gave it a tight squeeze. 

"We must return to Wakanda in two days," Shuri said. "My brother requires us to report the results of our negotiations in person. But I hope that you will visit us soon after—I want to show you _my_ lab. Then you will truly be amazed, I believe."

"I think that can be arranged," Tony said, and for the first time in a long time, he was actually looking forward to a business trip.

For the next two hours, Daluxolo demonstrated all of the exercises that Bucky should do daily. Some of them came easily to him, some he couldn't do at all, but even in those two hours, progress was made. Finally Daluxolo said, "Enough. Any more and you will find yourself more exhausted than you have ever felt. It feels easy now, but later it will be too much."

"I will return tomorrow to go through them again, Bucky. In the meantime, take your time adjusting, and learn to go about your normal life with an arm that works _properly_."

Bucky nodded, but his eyes tracked to Tony. Bruce seemed to be the first to catch on, and then Steve, and between the two of them, they used the pleasantries needed to send everyone on their way, until it was just Bucky and Tony in the lab.

"You did it," Bucky said, and there was amazement laced through his voice. "You actually did it."

"I'm a big enough man to admit that it was a group effort," Tony said. "Without the Wakandans swooping in, I wouldn't have figured it out."

"I think you would have managed something." Bucky wrapped his prosthetic hand around the back of Tony's neck and pulled him in so that they were forehead to forehead. "You're a genius. Shuri simply had more experience with one element, but you're the one who put it all together and gave me this gift."

Tony wanted to argue—Bruce and Khethiwe and Daluxolo and Fitz and Simmons and the research team and even Reed fucking Richards had all had their roles to play, and without any individiual one of them, he'd still be looking for a solution. But he wasn't strong enough to get into that fight right now. Instead he said, "You know, you have two working arms now,"

"I do," Bucky agreed.

"Does that mean I can put you on your hands and knees and fuck you?" Tony asked, his voice innocent.

"Damn straight it does." Bucky slid out of the chair he was in. "Let's go do that right now."


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pretty much just the smut payoff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who's commented all along as I finished and posted this monster. It's not quite the biggest thing I've ever written but it's up there! And it's thank to all of you that it got finished at all as opposed to languishing on my hard drive!

The cleaning staff had been in since they'd left that morning, and the bed was made, but that didn't even slow Bucky down. He stripped off his clothes as he made a beeline for the bed, only pausing briefly to look at the new prosthetic as he shrugged out of his t-shirt.

For his part, Tony was only moving slightly slower because he couldn't tear his eyes away from Bucky as more of him came into view. But when Bucky went to crawl up on the bed, Tony said, "No, wait—on your back for now, okay?"

Bucky gave him a coquettish look over his shoulder, but did as Tony asked, flipping over and sprawling across Tony's bed on his back. He was already hard, his cock arching up over his belly, and for a second Tony wasn't sure where to start. Then he locked his eyes on Bucky's lips, and he needed to be kissing him, right now.

He slid onto the bed next to Bucky, resting on his elbow, and pressed his lips to Bucky's, kissing him soft and lush. He didn't want this to be rushed, or frantic. He wanted it to be soft and gentle and _> perfect_.

Bucky groaned into Tony's mouth, both hands coming up and tangling with Tony's hair, making him laugh. "What is it with you and my hair?" he asked.

"I like the way you react when I pull it," Bucky said, and there was no trace of embarrassment or shame in his voice, so Tony didn't feel the need to feel them either.

"I could grow it out for you?" he offered, a little breathless.

"Nah, Ms. Potts would kill me if I was the reason that you looked like a hippie. Just don't cut it any shorter than this."

"Done. Now let me kiss you some more," Tony said, and then put action to words, kissing Bucky over and over until he felt like he was drunk with it. Then, slowly, he kissed his way down Bucky's neck, and over to his metal shoulder. 

At the first touch of Tony's lips to Bucky's upper arm, Bucky's breathing stopped for a long moment, and then came out in a long moan. "Oh, my god, I can feel that," Bucky said, his voice low and throaty. "That feels so good, Tony. I can actually _feel_ your lips..."

Tony didn't respond—not with words, anyway. Instead, he just slowly worked his way down Bucky's arm, kissing the Avengers symbol, the inside of his elbow, his wrist, his fingers.

With one last kiss to Bucky's thumb, Tony sat up and looked at Bucky's face, which seemed to be lost in some sort of trance. "Turn over?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah," Bucky said, hurriedly doing so, and getting on his hands and knees. Tony grabbed the lube and moved to kneel between Bucky’s calves. He ran his hands down Bucky's sides to his ass, and then pulled his cheeks apart so that he could bend down and place a kiss on his hole, which twitched under his lips.

"Normally, I'd beg for you to rim me," Bucky said, his voice pleading, "but I've been waiting for what feels like forever for your cock in my ass. Fuck me, please?"

"How can I say no when you ask so nicely?" Tony asked. Opening the lube, he squirted some on his fingers, rubbing them together to warm it slightly. Then, quickly but gently, he slid one finger in, pulling a long moan from him. "You're so tight. This is going to be so good once I get you looser."

"I like that," Bucky said. "I like you taking care of me. But I'd like it more if it was your dick in me right now."

"You're too tight for me to skip to my dick," Tony said, still slowly sliding his finger in and out gently. "Let me loosen you up a little more."

"Don't need it, I swear," Bucky said, his voice pleading. "I need you. _Please_ , Tony."

Tony bit his lip, not sure for a second, but then Bucky rocked on his knees, pushing his ass hard back against Tony's hand, and he could only take so much. Pulling his finger out, he got a little more lube, using it to slick his cock thoroughly. "If you change your mind, you tell me," he demanded. "Promise me."

"I promise, dammit. Now _fuck_ me."

Lining up his cock with Bucky's hole, Tony started to push forward. For a moment, it felt like he wasn't going to be able to get in, Bucky was still clenched tight. Then it gave all at once, and he started to slide in, slow but steady, until he was buried balls-deep in Bucky's ass, and oh, god, he was never going to give this up, because it felt _amazing_.

Bucky was moaning, and there was no pain in the sound, and that encouraged Tony to start moving. He was trying to use smooth long strokes, but Bucky was fiery hot inside, and so slick and welcoming and it was all Tony could do not to just start pounding him hard.

Under his hands, Bucky started rocking, meeting each of Tony's thrusts, and then it was almost a race to see which one of them would break first. Tony was determined that it was not going to be him. But Bucky had an unfair advantage, and he used it shamelessly, squeezing Tony's cock tight with his hole, practically milking him, and god, Tony wanted to come so badly. Finally, he pulled back, until just the head of his cock was inside Bucky, and then slammed in hard.

With a cry, Bucky bucked under his hands, and then he was coming without Tony even touching his cock. His ass clenched tight, and with a hoarse cry, Tony followed him over, with a climax that felt like it was coming from all the way down in his feet. All he could do was cling to Bucky's hips and fold over, his forehead to Bucky's back, as he shook through the last of the aftershocks.

Finally, as his brain started to come back online, he pulled out of Bucky, causing them both to groan at the loss. "We're going to do that a lot," Bucky said, turning over so that he was facing Tony. "Every day and twice on Sundays."

"I think that can be arranged," Tony said. Right at that moment, it sounded like the best thing ever.

"And to think, you thought I just wanted you because you were a mechanic," Bucky said with a laugh.

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is loved and will be used to feed this monster


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